Five Bangladeshis arrested in Bihar

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Five Bangladesh nationals have been arrested here while trying to cross over to their native country, a senior Border Security Force (BSF) official said.

The Bangladeshis, all residents of Thakurgaon district of the neighbouring country, claimed that they have been eking out a living at Kulgam in Jammu and Kashmir and they arrived Kishanganj on Wednesday evening, BSF DIG Amritlal Tirkey said. Although Kishanganj railway station is barely 30 km from the international border, they chose to stay back and planned to leave on Thursday morning, he said.

"We had, in the meantime, received information about the Bangladeshis and their plans to cross the border. When BSF personnel spotted them, they got scared and began to run away but were eventually caught" Tirkey said. They have been identified as Bakkar (20), Mohd Jaleel (22), Mohd Rubel (20), Mohd Mehboob (20) and Mohd Masoom (19), he said. Five arrested Bangladeshis claimed that they were working as masons in Kulgam and wanted to return home, Tirkey said.

"Bags carried by them contained no incriminating objects. However, they are in our custody and being interrogated", he said. The BSF DIG said "areas along the porous Indo- Bangladesh border have been put on high alert in the wake of intelligence inputs that terrorists may try to infiltrate in the aftermath of the developments related to Article 370. Patrolling and surveillance have, therefore, been stepped up and hotels and lodges are being checked frequently".

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