BSF arrests inspector of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police in Cooch Behar

Mohammad Sheikh Sonel Rana, 46, was found in Changrabandha, a transit route to Bangladesh

On Saturday, the BSF handed Rana to a team of Mekhliganj police station.: Shutterstock

TT  |   Cooch Behar   |  05.09.21: An inspector of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police in Bangladesh, who allegedly infiltrated India with the help of a tout from his country, was arrested by the Border Security Force (BSF) at Changrabandha in Cooch Behar on Friday.

BSF sources said Mohammad Sheikh Sonel Rana, 46, was found in Changrabandha, a transit route to Bangladesh. The resident of Gopalganj, Bangladesh, planned to go to Kathmandu, Nepal. He had on him four debit cards, some US dollars and Euros and two phones with Bangladeshi SIM cards.

“On September 2, he left Dhaka by bus and reached Patgram in Lalmonirhat district on Friday. To infiltrate India, he had paid him 10,000 Bangladeshi Taka. We have come to know that back in 2003 he joined Dhaka Metropolitan Police as a sub-inspector and had been under suspension for some reason with 21 other police personnel till 2008,” said a source.

On Saturday, the BSF handed Rana to a team of Mekhliganj police station.

In another incident, BSF troops of the 45th battalion posted at Bhootbati, also in Cooch Behar district, intercepted three Indians on Saturday and seized around 50,000 Bangladeshi catfish fingerlings from them.

 “They were carrying the fingerlings  illegally to Calcutta,” said a source.

In India, farming of catfish has been banned by the Centre back in 2000.

The trio, identified as Mohammad Zakim-ul Haq of Malbazar in Jalpaiguri, Tapas Mallick of Nadia and Ranjan Kumar Sarkar of North 24-Parganas, were handed over to the police at Kuchlibari police station, BSF sources said.