Bangladeshi border guard jawan held in Tripura

Agartala, Aug 21 (IANS) A Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel was detained by Border Security Force (BSF) troops after he entered Indian territory with arms in Tripura’s Sepahijala district on Thursday, officials said.

An official said that an armed BGB personnel who was in uniform, strayed into the Indian territory near the Kamthana Border Out Post (BOP) on the Indian side at Sepahijala district. The BGB jawan belonged to the Madla BOP on the Bangladesh side.

“The BGB man entered 100 meters inside Indian territory. We suspect that he entered with ill intentions in the area, though he has been claiming he was chasing smugglers. He is now under BSF custody and is being questioned,” the official told IANS, refusing to be quoted.

While the identity of the BGB jawan has not been divulged by the official, a source informed that he is a part of the 60th battalion of the Bangladesh border guards, which operates out of the Kasba Brahmanbaria area, on the opposite side of West Tripura district.

Officials of BSF and BGB are in touch to hand over the Jawan to the Bangladesh authority.

Meanwhile, recently, a ‘Made in China’ mark drone was found in West Tripura near the India-Bangladesh border. The BSF authority in Tripura sent the drone to the forces’ (BSF) headquarters in Delhi for a methodical study.

A BSF official earlier said that the drone was equipped with two high-resolution cameras. After its recovery, the Tripura police sent it to the state government’s forensic science laboratory for examination.

He said that the drone weighing 915 grams was found by a young boy in a paddy field near Durgabari Border Outpost of BSF, and the boy took it to his home and cleaned it with water. The boy found the drone in the paddy field 650 metres from the India-Bangladesh border.

Subsequently, the boy’s family informed the Tripura Police, who immediately brought it into their custody and sent it for FSL examination. The BSF official said that it is not yet clear from where the drone came into Indian territory.

Further details would be known after a thorough investigation, he added. BSF troops have enhanced vigil and intensified their domination along the International Border since the internal troubles in Bangladesh began in June-July last year, especially after the fall of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5, 2024.

Tripura, which has an 856 km border with Bangladesh, is surrounded on three sides by the neighbouring country, making the northeastern state very vulnerable and sensitive to cross-border migration, crimes and movement issues.

Except for some patches, most of the frontier had been fenced to prevent smuggling, trans-border crimes, cross-border illegal movements by infiltrators and inimical elements.

–IANS

sc/dan