With India and Bangladesh stepping up their cooperation in exchange of wanted criminals in recent weeks, two Bangladeshi Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials have been sent to Kolkata to bring back three criminals arrested by the West Bengal police.
Additional Superintendent of CID Abdullah Aref and Inspector Shyamol Chowdhury are in Kolkata to bring home Khandakar Tanveerul Islam Joy, Sanjidul Islam Emon and Harris alias Hasan, who are all wanted for various crimes in Bangladesh, a media report said Monday.
In December last year, the West Bengal police arrested Emon near New Market in Kolkata for possession of a fake passport while the other two - Joy and Harris - were arrested earlier.
The West Bengal CID has so far handed over five Bangladeshi criminals to the authorities here. Of them, Rafiq and Babul alias Jewel, close accomplices of Joy, are currently in Jessore jail. The other three - Habibur Rahman Taj, Ibrahim and Lamba Selim - were deported in October last year.
"The CID officials have been sent to Kolkata to verify whether the arrested are Bangladeshi criminals Joy, Emon and Harris. They would also talk to the Indian police about the arrested Bangladeshi criminals," Phani Bhoushan Choudhury, CID chief and additional inspector general of police, told the Daily Star Sunday.
{{/usCountry}}"The CID officials have been sent to Kolkata to verify whether the arrested are Bangladeshi criminals Joy, Emon and Harris. They would also talk to the Indian police about the arrested Bangladeshi criminals," Phani Bhoushan Choudhury, CID chief and additional inspector general of police, told the Daily Star Sunday.
{{/usCountry}}In turn, the Indian side is seeking Bangladesh's cooperation in nabbing Jibon Singh, an Indian national who is believed to have fled across the border after stealing Rabindranath Tagore's 1913 Nobel Prize Medal and other rare memorabilia four years ago.
At least 350 to 400 Bangladeshi criminals have been in hiding in India while a number of Indian criminals are also taken shelter in Bangladesh, the sources said, adding that law enforcement agencies of both the countries have already arrested a number of them.
Top CID officials in Bangladesh said although there is no extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India, the West Bengal authorities are likely to deport the Bangladeshi criminals as a goodwill gesture, as they did earlier.
In October, at the meeting between Bangladesh Rifles and the Border Security Force of India, the two countries exchanged lists of wanted people.
New Delhi has also submitted to Dhaka a list of militants, including the top leadership of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Bodo Liberation Army, during bilateral talks between the two countries.