India and Bangladesh border guards plan to step up coordination to reduce crimes

Border guards of both India and Bangladesh will coordinate their night patrols around villages along the international boundary ​and engage more with villagers to reduce smuggling, human trafficking and attacks on security personnel by transborder criminals, officials aware of the development said on Saturday.

A nine-member team lead by Nitin Agarwal, director general of the Border Security Force, had met with top officials of the Border Guards Bangladesh in capital Dhaka on March 5-9 to work out the modalities. Agarwal held talks with Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui, the new chief of the border guards in that country who was appointed as director general on 5 February.

"Highlighting the importance of Coordinated Border Management Plan in curbing transborder crimes, human trafficking and illegal crossing, both sides agreed to pursue and share real-time information and investigation reports of traffickers," A BSF spokesperson said in New Delhi on Saturday. "Both sides also assured to remain extra vigilant to curb such crimes and put all out efforts to make the India-Bangladesh border crime-free. Both sides also agreed to aid victims of human trafficking and to facilitate their rescue and rehabilitation as soon as possible as per law of the land."

Meeting between the chiefs of the border security forces in India and Bangladesh are held twice a year, once in each country. Cattle and drugs smuggling are the most common crimes at the India-Bangladesh frontier. In many cases, BSF personnel are attacked by villagers of border villagers in Bangladesh when the forces prevent them from smuggling contraband into India.

Border guards have seized items worth ₹12,120 crore since 2020 from India's borders with Bangladesh and Pakistan, of which nearly 70% was seized from the India- Bangladesh border, official data show. Along the 4096km border, the force seized at least 16,788 cattle in the past three years. India has borders with Bangladesh in states that include West Bengal, Mizoram, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.

Apart from dealing with transborder criminals, the two forces also agreed on construction work at the border. "After discussing all the developmental work within 150 yards of international border, both sides agreed to share approved design of competent authority and go ahead with six developmental work on the Indian side and six developmental work on the Bangladesh side," the spokesperson said. "Apart from above mentioned work, as a goodwill gesture, BSF agreed to a BGB proposal of construction for preserving 18 graves of martyred freedom fighters at Tamabil and Sylhet (both in Bangladesh)."