Illegal crossings at Bangladesh’s border with India continue to run rampant and are putting the country at heightened risk from the Indian variant of Covid-19.
According to the Border Guard Bangladesh Headquarters, 77 people have been arrested while attempting to illegally enter Bangladesh from India since April 26, when the land ports were closed for passengers considering the Covid-19 situation in the neighbouring country. All of them are Bangladeshi citizens.
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Among them, an alarming 36 were arrested from the Maheshpur border area. Locals claim that hundreds more evaded arrest.
In the southwestern part of Bangladesh, Maheshpur is an upazila of Jhenaidah that shares a border with the North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal, an extremely popular hotspot for the illegal border crossers.
Earlier, the BGB arrested 221 Bangladeshis and five Indian citizens in March while illegally entering Bangladesh and 118 Bangladeshis and four Indians in April.
812 captured since January
“The reason why Maheshpur is so popular among illegal border crossers is because it contains an unfenced 11km stretch,” BGB 58 Battalion (Maheshpur) Commanding Officer Kamrul Ahsan said.
“The number of people arrested here is huge. From January till May 28, some 812 illegal border crossers have been arrested by this battalion,” he said while talking to Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
“The local people have made a strong network here for illegal crossing due to the absence of barbed wire fencing. They are helping people from all over the country to illegally cross the border.
Also read- BGB detains 27 while entering Bangladesh from India
“We have arrested people from Bandarban, Sunamganj, Sylhet, Jessore and some other parts of the country in this border area,” CO Kamrul further said.
BGB 6 Battalion (Chuadanga) Commanding Officer Mohammad Khalequzzaman said that they had recently learned of more than 34 people testing Covid-19 positive in a small Indian village named Hudo Para, which is just past a canal on the Bangladesh side of the border.
“After getting that message, we made loudspeaker announcements to aware the people. Many people on our side have relatives on the Indian side and they cross the canal at night to visit them. We are at high risk of the Indian Covid-19 variant because they do not want to listen to us,” he told this correspondent on Thursday.
Quarantine measures for illegal crossers
On quarantine facilities for the arrestees, BGB Director (Operations) Lt Col Faizur Rahman said that they are responsible for arresting the illegal border crossers.
“After apprehension, they are handed over to the nearest police station for legal action as per the law of the land. In this regard, police maintain the quarantine period under supervision of the district’s deputy commissioner,” he told Dhaka Tribune on Thursday.
Mohammad Saiful islam, officer-in-charge of Maheshpur police station, said: “When the BGB hands over the crossers to us, we send them to Jhenidha district court where they seek bail and go to a hotel in the town for quarantine.
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“Before they secure bail, there is no way to quarantine them as per the existing law.”
In such cases, he said, they keep the India returnees separate from others at the police station, and everyone maintains health safety guidelines while dealing with them. “After all, it is a huge risk for us, because we do not know whether the arrested are Covid-19 positive or negative,” the OC said.
According to Section 11(C) of the Bangladesh Passport Order, 1973, if a person fails to show his passport or travel document, they shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to Tk2,000, or with both.