US deports 40 Bangladeshis
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT
The United States has deported 40 Bangladeshis as they entered the country illegally, sources at the foreign ministry said yesterday.
A special US aircraft carrying these 40 individuals arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 1:30 early yesterday, they said.
With this deportation, the total number of deportees now stands at 67 as the US authorities had deported another 27 people earlier in April.
The sources also said that the US authorities have identified 165 Bangladeshis, who have entered their country illegally, and these 67 are among them.
Some of the deportees were detained in different prisons for different types of crimes, they said, adding that all the legal avenues were exhausted before they were deported.
The officials also said that the deportation of illegal individuals is not any country-specific act. Some Indians and Nepalese nationals who were also deported by the US authorities.
Earlier, in January, Singapore arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers who supported Islamist groups including al Qaeda and Islamic State and deported 26 of them.
The deportees were attempting to leave Singapore illegally after hearing of the arrest of the others.
