India, Bangladesh border forces to meet in Dhaka next week

The unabated smuggling of fake Indian currency notes and attacks on BSF personnel by cross-border criminals are some of the issues that will be discussed at a high-level meeting of the chiefs of India and Bangladesh's frontier forces in Dhaka next week.

A 10-member Border Security Force (BSF) delegation, led by Director General K K Sharma, will travel to the Bangladesh capital for the meeting at the headquarters of their counterpart, Border Guard Bangladesh, from April 23 to 27.

The BGB team will be led by its DG Maj. Gen. Abul Hossain.

Officials said the BSF will take up the issue of the continuous inflow of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) from across the border and the attacks on its personnel by criminals based in Bangladesh.

They said that FICN with face value of about Rs 13.66 lakh have been seized along the border up to March this year.

FICN with face value of more than Rs 68.96 lakh were confiscated last year.

Also, two BSF men were killed and 122 injured in criminal attacks on this frontier last year. 109 personnel were injured in 2016, the officials said.

"These issues are a big concern for India and for the overall security situation on the India-Bangladesh international border. The talks will aim at finding better solutions to reduce and stop these instances," a senior officer said.

The Indian side, which will have officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, the Home Ministry and the anti-narcotics department, will also raise issues related to cattle smuggling, illegal migration and human trafficking, upkeep of border pillars and others along this IB, they said.

The BGB is expected to raise the matter of their nationals being killed or injured in BSF firing at the border and the illegal transport of drugs into their territory from the Indian side.

The two forces will also discuss the progress of a "crime free zone" created recently along the border in West Bengal, with the efforts of the BSF and the BGB.

This upcoming bi-annual DG-level talks will be the 46th such dialogue between the two sides. The last time the two forces met was in October, 2017 in Delhi.

India shares a 4,096-km-long border with Bangladesh.