6,643 foreigners held by BGB last year

UNB, Dhaka :
Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) detained 6,643 foreign nationals last year from different points along Myanmar-India for trespassing into Bangladesh territories.
Sources at the BGB headquarters said the intruders included 6,386 Myanmar nationals and 157 Indian citizens.
Among them, 6,350 Myanmar nationals were sent back to their country and 36 others handed over to nearest police stations, and 64 Indian citizens were handed over to Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and the rest 93 were handed over to local police stations.
Meanwhile, the BGB arrested 2,906 Bangladeshi nationals for their alleged border crossing during the period. They all were handed over to local police stations.
Besides, the paramilitary force recovered various smuggled goods, including illegal drug items, worth about Tk 566.76 crore, during their anti-smuggling drives from across the country during the 12 months.
Of the smuggled goods, contrabands worth about Tk 518.48 crore were seized while being smuggled into the country and goods worth about Tk 48.27 crore while being smuggled out of the country, said the sources.
A total of 1,579 people were also arrested in connection with the recovery of the smuggled goods during the period from January 1 to December 31 last year. According to the sources, a total of 26,323 cases were filed with different police stations across the country in connection with the recovery of the smuggled goods and drug items. The contraband drugs included 5,32,141 bottles of Indian intoxicating Phensidyl syrup, 1,082,548 Yaba tablets, 183,442 bottles of foreign
liquor, 6,487 litres of local liquor, 13,813 cans of beer, 5,438 kgs of hemp and 34.781 kg of heroin. The BGB members also rescued 736 women and 186 children while they were being trafficked out of the country, especially to neighbouring India, and arrested 16 alleged traffickers during the period. A total of 415 cases were filed with different police stations during the 12 months, the sources added.