Bangladesh frees three Indians after seven months

Agartala, Aug 14 (IANS) Bangladesh authorities Tuesday released three Indians, who had been arrested after their speeding car crashed into the Akhaurah checkpost on the India-Bangladesh border on Dec 27 last year, officials said.

"Bangladesh immigration officials handed over the Indian youths to their Indian counterparts at the Akhaurah checkpost in the presence of officials of Tripura Police, BSF (Border Security Force) and BGB (Border Guards Bangladesh)," BSF spokesman Bhaskar Rawat told IANS.

Indian immigration officials handed over the youths to Tripura police, who later released them on bail.

The three Indian tribal youths - Bimal Debbarma, Sushanta Debbarma and Amarjit Debbarma - are aged between 26-29 years.

"They had been arrested by Bangladeshi police for entering the territory illegally," the BSF official said. The checkpost is 2 km from Agartala.

A Tripura police official said: "The three youths, one of them a Tripura government employee, under the influence of alcohol, decided to visit Bangladesh through Akhaurah checkpost. They entered Bangladeshi territory crashing into the Akhaurah checkpost's barricade."

The official said that the trio took the BSF troopers, who were posted at the checkpost, by surprise when they whizzed past and wrecked a barricade before entering Bangladeshi territory.

Quoting BSF sources, police said the Bangladeshi police had presented the men at a local court in Akhaurah in Bangladesh. The court had sent them to judicial custody.

They were lodged in Brahmanbaria divisional jail for more than seven months and 19 days.

Tripura shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh.