National

159 Bangladeshis brought back from Myanmar

A batch of 159 Bangladeshi human trafficking victims returned home from Myanmar on Monday noon after a flag meeting between Border Guard Bangladesh and Myanmar Border Police authorities. This was the fourth batch of the returnees.Commanding officer of 17-BGB battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Rabiul Islam, led a 15-member delegation in the flag meeting held at Dekibonia in Myanmar while Chief deputy director of Maungdaw immigration department had led the Myanmar side.According to the BGB sources, BGB received the Bangladeshi migrants and brought them home after the flag meeting concluded around 2:30pm.Initially, Bangladeshi migrants were taken to Ghumdhum High School ground and they will be taken to Cox’s Bazar this evening from where they would be sent to their respective homes, sources said.The migrants were supposed to return to the country on July 30; but the programme was postponed for cyclone Komen. Another schedule, August 5, was also cancelled due to inclement weather in Myanmar.Myanmar naval forces had rescued 727 Bangladeshis from Irrawaddy estuary in the Bay on May 29. Some of them returned to Bangladesh in three phases.