‘Highest alert’ on Benapole border

The authorities have issued what they termed ‘highest alert’ on the Benapole border in Jessore to stop killers of two foreigners from escaping the country.
The move came yesterday, two days after Japanese national Hoshi Kunio, 66, was gunned down in northern district of Rangpur just five days after the murder of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella in Dhaka’s high-security diplomatic zone.

Lt Col Jahangir Hossain, commanding officer of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Battalion-26, confirmed The Daily Star that the step was taken after the foreigners’ murders.
“Our troops have been kept on highest alert since last night so that no killer or criminal could slip through the border,” he said.
Apart from BGB men, members from immigration police have heightened monitoring at check-post there.
Regarding the foreigners who will enter or leave the country through the point, Mominur Rahman, officer in-charge of Benapole immigration police, said his team would escort the foreigners through the border after verifying their identities with the Special Branch of police.

The killings of the two foreigners raised serious concern among foreign missions and citizens in Bangladesh. Several countries alerted their citizens asking them to limit their movement and maintain caution while going out.