India, Bangladesh to step up border patrolling

Border guards of India and Bangladesh have decided to increase joint security and patrolling along the border to curb smuggling and bring down border killings, officials said here Sunday.

The decision was taken after discussions between Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) during the 39th border co-ordination conference here.

BSF chief D.K. Pathak said both the forces have decided on a new and improved patrolling plan, where troops from both the sides come together for vigil.

Both the border forces have also decided to curb violence along the border and the need to bring down killings near border to zero level, he told reporters at the BSF headquarters.

The forces also agreed to implement a coordinated border management plane to curb menace of trans-border crimes like smuggling of drugs, cattle, fake currency notes and gold.

India, during the meeting, also handed over a list of 71 camps of insurgent groups and their cadres, who are operating from the neighbouring country.

"Border killing instances along the India-Bangladesh border have reduced, I would say. The BSF is very sincere and they have worked in bringing down this figure.

"It (killings) is coming down but we are working for a situation where these killings come down to zero," BGB chief Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed told reporters after conclusion of the five-day conference that started Aug 20.

"The fake Indian currency notes came from outside. My country is being used as a transit route. No such currency produced in Bangladesh. We have assembled currency detection machinery at every check posts," BGB chief said.

Ahmed refuted that any "illegal migration" was taking place at the border and described these cases as "illegal crossing" instances.