BSF returns 2 Rab men after 9 hrs

Indian Border Security Force has returned two Rab members to the BGB on Tuesday night, about nine hours after they were taken into custody from the house of an Indian national along the border in Dinajpur's Chirirbandar upazila.

The two -- ASP Shyamal Sharma, 32, and constable Abu Bakkar, 38, -- took shelter in the house on the Indian territory after coming under attack from a group of drug dealers and their family members in Saraswatipur village of the same upazila, said Rab officials.

According to officials of the elite force, a five-member team of plainclothes Rab men went to Saraswatipur around 1:30pm on Tuesday to arrest drug dealers. But drug dealers, their family members and druggies attacked the Rab team, leaving its members dispersed.

Chased by the attackers, Shyamal and Abu Bakkar crossed into India and took shelter in the house.

Acting on information about the incident, a BSF team went to the house around 2:00pm on Tuesday and took the two into custody.

As the news of the incident spread in Saraswatipur village, senior officials of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), police and the civil administration went there in the evening and took initiatives to bring the two Rab men back.

The BSF handed the two Rab men to the BGB through a flag meeting around 10:45pm on Tuesday.

A member of Punatri Union Parishad in Chirirbandar upazila said the Saraswatipur village was controlled by drug dealers, druggies, their family members and relatives.

Speaking to The Daily Star yesterday, Lt Col Ashik Billah, director of Rab Legal and Media Wing in Dhaka, said the five-member Rab team conducted the raid in the village based on specific information.

The BSF rescued them after the two Rab men took shelter in the house of an Indian national, he added.

Chirirbandar OC Subrata Sarkar said they were yet to receive any complaint about the attack as of 3:00pm yesterday.

This correspondent phoned the commanding officer of Phulbari BGB 29 Battalion for comments, but he did answer the phone.