Five children from Tripura state of India have returned home 23 days after their abduction to Bangladesh by a woman, police said yesterday.
“The Bangladesh police in the presence of officials of the Border Security Force (BSF), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Tripura Police handed over the five children to their parents at the Belonia check post in southern Tripura late on Monday,” Gomati Superintendent of Police Prabir Majumder said.
The five children - aged between 10 months and 11 years - included two girls.
“The five children were kidnapped by Rehena Begum, 68, from Rangamati village in Gomati district on October 24 and taken to Bangladesh,” Majumder said.
“Following a tip-off from Tripura Police and BSF, Bangladesh police rescued the children and arrested Rehena Begum from a house in Companiganj in Noakhali district the next day,” he said.
“Bangladesh police then presented the children at a local court which sent the children to a juvenile home and the woman to police custody.”
The Tripura Police official said that earlier following his request, the BSF informed about the matter to the BGB, which in turn asked Bangladesh police to rescue the children.
Majumder said Rehena Begum, a Bangladeshi citizen, was staying unlawfully at the residence of her son, who was an Indian citizen.
“According to preliminary inquiry, family dispute might have caused the kidnapping of the children,” the police superintendent said.
Tripura shares an 856km border with Bangladesh. Some stretches of the border are yet to be fenced.