Bangladeshi teen sneaks into India to buy chocolate, border guards put him behind bar

Agartala, April 18: Eman Hossain, a Bangladeshi teen, who is extremely fond of a special brand of Indian chocolate had crossed the Indo-Bangla international border many times for buying the chocolate bar, but last Wednesday was an ill-fated day for him as he was apprehended by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and was put behind the bar.

Hossain lived in a village on the bank of Shalda river in Comilla district of the neighbouring country which flows between his village and an Indian village, Kalamchoura in Sipahijala district.

He crossed swimming the river and sneaked into Indian territory through a hole of the barbed wire fencing to buy his favourite chocolate from a shop in the Kalamchoura village and was caught by the Indian border guards and handed over to State police.

Banoj Biplab Das, Sub-Divisional police officer of Sonamura said, the teenage boy was apprehended by BSF on Wednesday, April 13 and was handed over to police.

"We have produced the boy to a local court, which remanded him for 15 days jail custody. We have to wait for the court's decision," Das said.

The boy during preliminary interrogation said that he sneaked into Indian territory for buying a special brand of chocolate. He confessed that he also crossed the border several times to buy chocolates. "Nothing illegal except one hundred Bangladeshi taka was recovered from his possession", added Das.

He was arrested for travelling to India without valid documents and for violation of the Indian Passport Act. Hoever, until now no one from his family has contacted the Indian police so far.

"It seems the statement of the boy is correct, but we are investigating the case", said another police officer on a condition of anonymity.

After crossing the border he had to crawl through a patch of land as the barbed wire fencing was constructed 150 yards away from the Indo-Bangla international border to adhere to the Indira-Mujib pact signed in 1972 on security considerations.

"Border in Sonamura sub-division is porous despite the erection of barbed wire fencing. There are many villages in the Kalamchoura Panchayat where Indo-Bangla international border sliced many houses. When the drawing room is in India, the bedroom is in Bangladesh. Moreover there are many patches which are still unfenced due to difficult terrain", sources in BSF said.

Bengali speaking people are living in both side of the river, whose food habits and dresses are same.

"Bangladeshis often sneak into the border to buy groceries or even to attend social functions and BSF generally ignores on humanitarian grounds. But they take stern actions if anybody is involved with smuggling or drug trafficking. The boy entered into Indian territory only to buy chocolates", Elius Hossain, a resident of Kalamchoura Panchayat said.

The SDPO said, "Investigation behind crossing the border is going on. We would produce him before the court again for decision".

Meanwhile, BSF, in a press statement said, "Anti-Smuggling Drives" are being made by the troops of BSF Tripura particularly to curb the trans-border smuggling of narcotics and contrabands in the State of Tripura.

In series of Operations, Vigilant Bordermen successfully seized 865.5 Kgs Ganja, 2,060 Nos Yaba Tablets, 255 Btls of Phensedyl, Eskuf Syrup, besides assorted contraband articles having combined value of Rs. 1,42,44,986/-, during different operations recently.

BSF is regularly seizing various other contraband articles by carrying out different operations along the Indo-Bangladesh International Border, besides safeguarding the extreme territorial limits of the country in Tripura, the release said.