As many as 11 Bangladeshi citizens have been killed at the border regions with India in the last 43 days.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Director (planning) Lt Col Syed Ashiqur Rahman this at a press conference at the BGB headquarters on Wednesday.
At the same time, Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) detained 40 Bangladeshis and 2 Indians for crossing the border illegally.
He was giving a brief about BGB’s achievements against drugs and smuggling during the January period.
BGB detained 272 people and took legal action against them for their alleged involvement in various drug trafficking and other smuggling.
Lt Col Ashiqur said most of the people killed were cattle traders.
The official said they are trying to bring the casualty incidents to zero numbers which are being discussed between the two forces (BGB and BSF)
“We are also making people aware of ensuring that they do not engage in any illegal works on the border or go to to India by mistake,” he added.
“On the other hand, we have increased our surveillance. We have identified the sensitive areas and increased the security there,” he said.
In January, BGB seized various types of smuggled goods and narcotics amounting to Tk971,803,000.
The seized items include – yaba pills, marijuana, alcohol, phensedyl, injection, wood, koshti pathor, sharis, ready-made garment products, tea leaves, gold, pickup van, private car, CNG run auto-rickshaw, motorcycle and many more
Two pistols, four guns, two magazines and 10 rounds of bullets were also seized, the BGB director added.
The BGB director further said BGB has plans to establish “Bangabandhu Shikkha Niketon” in different BGB BOP on the occasion of Mujib Year.
In addition to schools, there will be various types of technical education for men and women of the border area. “We have already started activities in this regard,” he said
Besides this, BGB has been doing various public welfare activities to improve the quality of life of people in the border areas, he added.
