In 2024, the trend of Bangladeshi citizens illegally crossing the India-Myanmar border has increased four times over the previous year. At the same time, more than 14,000 Rohingya citizens have crossed the border illegally from Myanmar. Indian citizens have also been caught by the BGB illegally entering Bangladesh.
The annual report of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has this information. This report was published yesterday Sunday. Such reports are published every year. This annual report of BGB contains various information including drug, arms, currency and gold smuggling, infiltration. BGB sent the news circular regarding the 2024 report to the media yesterday.
According to the notification, from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, 2,678 Bangladeshis were detained on charges of illegally crossing the border, which was 599 in 2023. There is no record of Bangladeshi citizens crossing the border into India and Myanmar in the recent past.
BGB sources said that after the fall of the Awami League government, many of the leaders and workers of the party tried to enter India illegally by crossing the border. Many of them have been arrested by the BGB. There are also precedents of Indian citizens illegally crossing the border to enter Bangladesh. The BGB arrested 155 Indian nationals on charges of crossing the border into Bangladesh in the outgoing year. Some of them were in jail. BGB arrested 77 Indian citizens on the same charge in 2023.
According to the notification of BGB, 857 Rohingyas and Myanmar citizens entered Bangladesh in 2023, but last year 14 thousand 336 Rohingyas and other citizens came illegally from Myanmar. Legal action was taken after their arrest. Rohingya infiltration has increased as government forces clash with the Arkan Army in Myanmar's Rakhine.
The circular also said that in 2024, BGB seized smuggled goods worth Tk. The weapons recovered include 38 pistols, 5 SMGs, 18 grenades, 8 rifles, 6 revolvers, 52 other firearms, 8,859 rounds of ammunition, 45 magazines, 4 mortar shells, 41 cocktails, 10 kg 44 grams of gunpowder and 233 blank cartridges.
