445 Bangladeshis trying to flee India detained in past two months: Official

Dhaka: About 1,000 people were arrested in 2019 for illegal border crossings from India to Bangladesh, with 445 of them returning to Dhaka in November and December 2019, said a top official here.

The returnees are all Bangladeshi nationals who went to India illegally in different times and have nothing to do with the citizenship law, bdnews24 quoted Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Director General Major General Shafeenul Islam as saying on Thursday.

Director general-level meetings were held between the two border guard agencies from December 25 to December 30, 2019 in New Delhi. Several people arrested for entering Bangladesh through the Indian border were reported since the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

"We haven`t allowed in any intruder," said the BGB chief when asked how many illegal intruders were identified in 2019.

Three traffickers were among those arrested, he said, adding that they were handed over to the police after their identification as Bangladeshi nationals.

"They were all Bangladeshis and went to India in search of jobs," said Islam.

There was no discussion on the NRC at the director general-level meeting between the two countries.