Acting on a tip-off, a team of the 148 battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF) arrested six Bangladeshi nationals on Wednesday for allegedly infiltrating India via the international border at Kuchlibari in Cooch Behar.
According to BSF sources, after entering Indian territory, the men, aged between 24 and 40, had hired a van when the BSF team arrested them. “The van’s driver and the cleaner were also arrested. All were handed over to Mekhliganj police. They need to be interrogated why they infiltrated India,” said a BSF officer.
All the six Bangladeshis, aged between 24 and 40 years, are residents of Parsinghra village of Natore district in the neighbouring country. The driver and cleaner are from Kuchlibari.
On frisking, Rs 24,875 in cash, some currencies of Malaysia and South Africa, six cell phones, two Aadhaar cards and some suspected herbal medicines were found on them.
In recent months, this is the first time in north Bengal that six Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested at one go.
The BSF in a special anti-smuggling drive along the India-Bangladesh border in different areas of north Bengal on Thursday have seized items, including cough syrup bottles and cattle, altogether worth Rs 2.12. “These were supposed to be smuggled to Bangladesh from India,” said a BSF source.
