Criminals' list exchanged

The border guards of Bangladesh and India have exchanged a list of criminals who are wanted in their respective countries and believed to have been hiding across the frontiers.
Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) has given its Indian counterpart a list of 63 criminals, while Indian Border Security Force (BSF) handed over a list of 79 criminals.
The exchange was made yesterday at the concluding session of a top-level BDR-BSF conference held in the capital, sources say.
BDR Director General Maj Gen Md Rafiqul Islam said the list handed over to BSF comprises some top criminals and members of United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) of the hill tracts.
"Our list contains names of those who are wanted by our law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. The list was prepared in association with law enforcers and intelligence agencies," the BDR DG added.
Sources say the BDR list comprises names of 12 top-ranked criminals and 13 UPDF members, while the BSF list includes the leaders and activists of different separatist groups active in some Indian states.
The BDR chief said, "We refused a BSF proposal for imposing curfew in bordering areas as BDR does not have the authority in this regard."
Maj Gen Md Rafiqul continued, "We have handed over another list of 12 spots from where phensidyl is remanufactured and repacked for smuggling into Bangladesh. We have also supplied them with photographs of the spots and their specific location."
He said phensidyl is being smuggled into Bangladesh by Indian peddlers, who turn it into a drug item by mixing sedative tablets and coden.
He added they have also protested against frequent shooting and killing of unarmed Bangladeshi people inside Indian territories.
"We have asked the top BSF officials to restrain their troops from shooting Bangladeshi unarmed people and make them follow the Rules of Engagement (ROE)," said the BDR DG.
He added, "We have requested them to obstruct anybody first and shoot only for injuring those who will ignore the BSF signals."
The border conference started on September 22 at the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana and is scheduled to end today through signing of the Joint Record of Discussions (JRD) in the morning.
BSF DG Raman Srivastava is leading a 20-member delegation at the conference with a 22-member BDR team led by Maj Gen Md Rafiqul.