The Indian Border Security Force pushed 17 more people, including five women and four children, into Bangladesh through the Gomostapur border in Chapainawabganj on early Wednesday.

With the latest push-ins, the number of people, including Rohingyas and Indian nationals, pushed into Bangladesh by India since May 7 has increased to 2,453.

The Indian border force has so far pushed at least 223 Rohingyas, including 50 registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in India, into Bangladesh.

Lieutenant colonel Mohammad Ariful Islam Masum, commanding officer of Border Guard Bangladesh Battalion-16, told New Age that members of BGB’s Charaldanga Border Outpost detained the 17 people near Shivnagar Bazar area at about 5:50am.

He said that the group was found around three kilometres inside Bangladesh from border pillar 219/29-R after being pushed in by members of the Tilashan BSF camp under cover of darkness.

During preliminary interrogation, the detainees said that they were residents of Khulna and Jashore districts and had been living in Agra, India, for five to six years.

The BGB official said that they were arrested by Indian police and served about three years in Agra district jail before being released recently.

After completing their prison terms, Indian police handed them over to the BSF, which later pushed them into Bangladesh through the Tilashan BSF camp under the BSF’s 12 Battalion, he added.