40 rescued while being trafficked to india

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel detained 40 Bangladeshi nationals from Gazipur border in Sadar upazila of Satkhira district while they were being trafficked to Indian on Saturday night, reports a correspondent.

The arrestees include 20 women and eight children.

Major Nazir Ahmed Bakshi, commanding officer (CO) of BGB 38 Battalion, said acting on a tip-off, border guards conducted a drive in the area around 8:30pm and rescued them.

BGB sources quoted some of the victims as saying that a gang of traffickers brought them at the border from different areas of Bagerhat, Barisal and Khulna district.

BGB men later handed them over to Satkhira Sadar Police Station. Police yesterday produced the arrestees before a court that sent them to jail.

Meanwhile, BGB members on Friday night arrested eight people while they were going to India without valid documents through Putkhali border under Benapole Port Police Station.

The arrestees are Mashiur Rahman, 35, Kuddus Sardar, 18, Monirul Molla, 32, Arjina Sheikh, 20, Rabiul Islam, 20, Mohan Das, 19, Bhulu Adhikari, 30, and Nani Gopal Haldar, 30.

They all are from different areas of Jessore, Narayanganj and Barisal districts.

Away in Dinajpur, six Bangladeshi teenage boys returned home through Hili border in Hakimpur upazila on Wednesday night, on expiry of their jail terms in India, reports our correspondent.

SK Sarker, officer in-charge of Indian immigration police at Hili Land Port handed them over to his Bangladesh counterpart Md Rafiquzzaman around 1:00pm.

The returnees, aged between 15 to 17 years, are Sohel Rana, Shamim Sheikh, Bashir Ahmed, Kamrul Islam and Sadiqul Islam of Baliadanga upazila in Thakurgaon, and Sujon Pal of Ujirpur upazila in Barisal.

Rafiquzzaman, OC of Hili check post immigration police, said a gang of human traffickers took them to India through different borders in Thakurgaon in 2009 and 2010.

Members of Indian Border Security Force (BSF) arrested them and sent them to jail through a court. The returnees were later handed over to their family members.