BSF pushes back 60 more Bangladeshis

India's Border Security Force (BSF) pushed back at least 60 Bangladeshis through borders in Sylhet and Moulvibazar yesterday.

In Sylhet, BSF members pushed back 16 Bangladeshis through the Atgram border in Kanaighat upazila in the morning.

The group includes eight men, six women, and two children.

A BGB patrol team (Zakiganj Battalion) detained them soon after they entered Bangladesh, said Lieutenant Colonel Md Zubayer Anwar, commanding officer of the 19 BGB Battalion.

Lt Col Zubayer said their identities have been confirmed after questioning. They are Bangladeshis, and BSF pushed them back following illegal entry into India.

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Kanaighat Police Station Officer-in-Charge Abdul Alam said the detainees hail from Bagerhat and Kurigram districts. They are currently in BGB custody and will be handed over to the police following formal procedure.

In Moulvibazar, a total of 44 people, including women and children, were pushed back into Bangladesh through the North Shahbazpur border area of ​​the district's Barlekha upazila early yesterday.

Among the detainees, there are 13 men, 18 women and 13 children.

52-BGB Commander Lt Col Mehedi Hasan told The Daily Star that the BSF pushed back 44 Bangladeshis this morning. The identities of the detainees have been confirmed. They are Bangladeshis, and will be handed over to the police station tonight.

The commanding officer also said the detainees told BGB that they went to India illegally for work. Police in India detained them recently and pushed them into Bangladesh at dawn today.

Speaking on May 12, Maj Gen Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui, director general of the BGB, said BSF has pushed in 280 individuals, including Rohingya people, between May 7 and May 9.

Of these 280 people, 80 were pushed in through various borders in Khagrachhari, 76 from Moulvibazar, and 46 from Kurigram, while 78 were left behind by BSF on Mandarbaria island in the western Sundarbans of Satkhira's Shyamnagar upazila.