The border police in Karimganj district of Assam on Saturday deported 21 Bangladeshis who had been detained for illegally entering India.
Officials said the 21 persons, two of them women, were sent back from the Sutarkandi border checkpoint after approval from the Union Home Ministry.
They were handed over to the Bangladeshi authorities who confirmed that they were from Syllhet and Kishoreganj districts of the country.
“They were detained for violation of the Passport Act over the past few months and kept at the detention camp in the Silchar Central Jail. Six of them were held in Cachar district and 11 in Karimganj,” said a police officer who handled the deportation process. In July last year, 52 Bangladeshi nationals were deported from the Mankachar sector of the Assam-Bangladesh border. They were “convicted foreigners”, arrested for not possessing valid travel documents or for cross-border crimes.
