BSF-BGB joint drill in Sundarbans soon to block JMB movement

India's Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guards Bangladesh ( BGB) will hold a joint drill in the Sundarbans to check movement of terror groups like the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

A BSF official told bdnews24.com that the drill will seek to develop coordination and inter-operability on a difficult border full of rivers and rivulets and low-lying marshy terrain.

"We have intelligence input that groups such as the JMB are trying to use the Sundarbans for trans-border movement to spread their operational reach," the official said, but was not willing to be named because he was not authorised to brief media.

"We need to stop the trans-border movement of terrorists through all routes, specially the Sundarbans which may be frequently used because for us it is difficult to man."

An official of India's Intelligence Bureau (IB) said that JMB leaders have held a series of meetings with their 'sleeper cells' in Khulna and Satkhira and briefed them on the Sundarbans routes they could use for back-and-forth movement.

"That is why it has become necessary to organise a coordinated operation by the border forces of the two countries," the IB official said.

He said some Indian fishermen have recently been kidnapped and then released by JMB activists who used them for trans-border movement through the Sundarbans.

BSF sources say the joint drill is likely to be held between Dec 8 and Dec 10.

 "The details will be worked out this week," said a BSF official.