159 Bangladeshi nationals bring back

Border Guard Bangladesh is now in a meeting with their Myanmar counterpart to bring back 159 trafficking victims who were rescued from the sea.

An 18-member BGB team led by Lieutenant Colonel Md Robiul Islam, commander of 17 BGB Battalion of Cox’s Bazar went to Myanmar this morning, reports our Cox’s Bazar correspondent.

The flag meeting started in Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) camp at Dekubunia in Maungdaw around 10:40am.

Of the 159 Bangladeshis, 80 people are from Narsingdi, 18 from Chittagong, 12 from Narayanganj, 12 from Faridpur, three from Shariatpur two from Naogaon and two from Natore and Barisal.

The Bangladeshi victims, that include 16 children, were among 208 and 727 people who were rescued by Myanmar navy on May 22 and May 29 respectively.

Earlier on July 30 and August 5, the victims were scheduled to be brought back but the programmes were postponed due to bad weather triggered by cyclone Komen and flood and other reasons.

Till now, 342 identified Bangladeshi victims have been repatriated from Myanmar.