Two Indian nationals have been apprehended with smuggled drugs near the international border in Lalmonirhat, police said on Friday. The arrestees have been identified as Hossain Ali and Jahangir Alam, said Shaha Alam, officer-in-charge of Hatibandha police station. The accused were arrested on Thursday night from near the Gendukuri border of Tongbhanga union in Hatibandha upazila during a drive, said the OC. Also read: Cabinet okays draft law keeping maximum 10-yr jail for drugs anomalies "Some 100 bottles of phensedyl have been seized from their possession," he said. The arrestees were booked and produced in a court that sent them to judicial custody, OC Shaha said. Also read: 3 ‘drug peddlers’ held in city

Kurigram district jail authorities on Tuesday released five Indian nationals who had been jailed for illegally entering Bangladesh with drugs.  The five Indians are Alam Mia, son of Dudu Mia from Bengal's Cooch Behar district, Md Nuruzzaman, son of Surut Mia from Dhubri district in Assam, Selim Mia, son of Nur Islam from Mainkarchar, Jahangir Alam, son of Amirul Islam, and Maha Alam Sheikh, son of Sanowar Hossain, Md Ismail Hossain, Superintendent of Kurigram jail. Also read: Bangladeshi man shot dead by Indian Khashias; BSF hands over body However, two others -- Akbar Ali and Golzar Ali from Dhubri district -- will have to remain in prison as they didn't receive clearance from the Indian government though their jail term expired on February 1, 2022, he said. “At 7am, the five Indians were released from the jail and taken to the Burimari land port. There they will be handed to Border Security Force,” said Kurigram jail superintendent Ismail Hossain. The seven Indian citizens were arrested on charges of possession of drugs and illegal entry, he said. Also read:Illegal Indian products worth Tk 30cr seized in 10 months at Benapole border “Those who were released had to spend an extra six months in jail after serving their sentences, which is a serious violation of human rights," said advocate SM Ibrahim Lincoln, convener of Border Victim Rescue Legal Assistance Forum. "There are many like them in jails of both the countries. The Indian and Bangladeshi governments should take initiatives to return the inmates immediately after the end of their jail terms,” he added.

An Air India flight from Romania carrying over 200 Indian nationals evacuated from war-torn Ukraine landed at Mumbai airport on Saturday night, officials said. Since the Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civilian flights in the wake of the Russian invasion, some 209 stranded Indians, including students, were evacuated to Romanian capital Bucharest. "The evacuated Indians boarded the Air India flight from Bucharest. The flight landed at 8pm (local time)," a senior aviation official told the media. Also read: Ukraine: Curfew extended as Russian troops press on capital Earlier in the day, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar took to Twitter to share pictures of the evacuees on the flight. "I am personally monitoring. The first flight to Mumbai with 219 Indian nationals has taken off from Romania,” he wrote. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to immediately halt military action against Ukraine, underscoring the need for a diplomatic solution to the standoff. On Thursday, Ukraine's envoy in Delhi sought Modi's intervention in ending the Russian offensive. "Modi ji is one of the most powerful, respected world leaders. You have a privileged, strategic relation with Russia. If Modiji speaks to Putin we are hopeful he'll respond," Ukraine's Ambassador Igor Polikha had told the local media. Also read: Ukraine minister:198 killed, 1000 wounded "India should be much more actively engaged, given the privileged relation India has with Russia. Not just for our safety, but of your own citizen's safety too, we need intervention of India." An estimated 15,000 Indians are said to be currently in Ukraine.

As many as 150 people, mostly Indian nationals, have been kidnapped by the Taliban from outside the Kabul airport, multiple media reports said on Saturday. Though the Indian Foreign Ministry is yet to make any official confirmation, the Taliban have denied the reports. "The Indians have been taken to a nearby police station for questioning. They will be released soon," a Taliban spokesman told the Afghan media. The Indians nationals were reportedly picked up by the Taliban a couple of hours after an Indian Air Force transport plane evacuated some 85 Indians from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. READ: Reports of targeted Taliban killings fuel Afghans' fears "The aircraft has safely landed in Tajikistan. The plane will return to India after refuelling. A second aircraft is on standby at the Kabul airport for carrying out further evacuations," sources in Delhi told UNB. On Tuesday, India evacuated all its diplomatic staff, including the Ambassador, from its embassy in Kabul on a special flight of the Air Force, some 36 hours after the Taliban seized the capital. "In view of the prevailing circumstances, it has been decided that our Ambassador in Kabul and his Indian staff will move to India immediately," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi tweeted that morning. Though Afghanistan has closed its airspace for all civilian flights, military aircraft are still evacuating stranded foreign nationals with the help of the American troops stationed at the Kabul airport. The Indian government has, meanwhile, introduced a new emergency category of e-visa to fast-track applications from Afghans seeking refuge in this country. In the past two weeks, India has evacuated all its diplomatic staff and their families from its three consulates in Afghanistan -- Kandahar, Jalalabad and Herat. In a security advisory last week, the Indian Embassy in Kabul asked all Indian nationals visiting, staying and working in Afghanistan to keep themselves updated on the availability of commercial flights and make immediate arrangements to return to India. The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan on Sunday evening, with the US troops virtually ending their 20-year military presence in the South Asian country. READ: How social platforms are dealing with the Taliban India is particularly worried about the implications of the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan, given the fact that it has so far infused over three billion USD worth development aid into that country and the horrific memories of the Taliban's role in the hijacking of an airliner in 1999.