Twenty-one Bangladeshis, including five children, returned home through the Benapole checkpost on Friday evening after serving time in Indian prison in different terms, starting from six months to five years. The returnees comprising 10 women, 6 men and 5 children, belong to Dhaka, Bagerhat, Khulna, Barguna, Narail, Munshiganj and Cox's Bazar districts. Read:17 Tablig jamaat members return after serving jail in India They returned to the country with a special travel permit issued by the Government of India on coordinated efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, and the Special Task Force on Prevention of Trafficking in Women and Children in West Bengal and Kolkata, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Raju Ahmed, officer-in-charge of Benapole checkpost immigration, said they were lured to India with promises of good jobs in different times. But Indian police arrested them while working from home in different parts of the country, including Kolkata. From there, NGOs called MM Rescue, Sanglap and Talash put them in a shelter home. Read:3 Bangladeshis return home after serving jail in India In the presence of the Director General (Consular and Welfare) and Assistant Secretary (Welfare) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a delegation from Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata handed over all the Bangladeshi women and children to the local Upazila Nirbahi Officer, Upazila Women and Children Affairs Officer and law enforcers’ agencies, said the release. After the immigration process, they were handed over to two NGOs -- Justice Care and Rights Jashore.

Bangladeshis returning from India through Benapole checkpost are being sent to hotels in Khulna for 14-days quarantine. Since Saturday, India-returnees have been sent to Khulna. After all the 12 hotels and a madrasa in Benapole were filled with people from India by Thursday, they were sent to the hotels in Narail on Friday. Also read: 105 Bangladeshis return from India through Benapole To cope with overwhelming crowd of returnees, this step has been taken.   Every day, Bangladeshis stuck in India are returning in groups through Benapole checkpost. Read Liquid oxygen import from India suspended at Benapole Most of the stranded passengers were staying in India for treatment. About 70 Bangladeshis returned to the country by 3 pm on Sunday. They were taken to Khulna under special arrangements. Also read: 15 stranded Bangladeshis return home through Benapole So far 1199 people have returned from India after the lockdown. As per the government instructions, the returnees are being kept in 14-day institutional quarantine. Read Arms, valuables, drugs worth Tk 120 crore seized from Benapole in 2020

Another batch of 105 Bangladeshis returned home from India through the Benapole checkpost on Friday morning. They are undergoing a 14-day quarantine at a Benapole hotel at their own expense. They returned with NOC from the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Kolkata. Meanwhile, 21 Indians have returned to their country from Bangladesh. Many patients and students went to India before Bangladesh announced a 14-day border closure with the neighbouring country. A Samad, a passenger from India, said the border closure should have been announced at least a day earlier. “It’d have saved us a lot of trouble at the border,” he said. Ahsan Habib, officer-in-charge Benapole Immigration, said people with special permits from the high commission are being allowed to cross the border. In the last four days, 810 Bangladeshis have returned home from India through Benapole, according to officials.

Seventeen members of Bangladeshi Tablig Jamaat, including eight women, have returned from India through the Benapole Checkpost after serving four months jail in India.   Indian immigration police of Petrapole handed them over to Benapole Checkpost immigration police around 11:30pm on Sunday.   The returnees hail from different districts and Mirpur of Dhaka. They have been kept at institutional quarantine in Gazir Dorgah of Jhikargaccha upazila in the Jashore district, said Ashrafuzzaman, medical officer of Benapole Checkpost Immigration Health department.   Mohosin Khan, officer-in-charge of Benapole Checkpost immigration police, said that some 265 followers of Tablig Jamaat from different areas of Bangladesh went to India in February this year.

A total of 3,336 Bangladeshis stranded in India amid lockdown following coronavirus outbreak have returned home through Benapole checkpost since April.

Over 100 Indian nationals got stuck at the Benapole checkpost here on Tuesday as Petrapole immigration authorities in India did not allow them to enter their country following a lockdown in West Bengal.

Benapole Customs House has failed to achieve its revenue collection target between July and November.