The Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) has deployed armed village defence volunteers at more than a dozen spots across the international border in West Bengal and Tripura, BSF personnel reported.
The move comes amid a mounting crackdown on undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh and a policy of pushing back people suspected of dubious citizenship.
BSF personnel reported sightings of Bangladeshi villagers assisting BGB personnel on their side of the border and keeping an eye on fencing work in nine different districts of West Bengal.
The Bangladesh home ministry has also deployed personnel from Bangladesh Ansar and the Village Defence Party to help stop people fleeing back to Bangladesh.
Local villagers in both West Bengal and Tripura have spotted armed villagers who are doubling up as volunteers for the BGB, with the villagers on the Indian side of the border being told by Bangladesh citizens that training was held by the BGB before they were deployed.
The BGB has trained villagers to guard the border round-the-clock in different shifts and ensure that even their citizens do not enter their country back illegally.
