Indian Truck Driver Detained with 20 Bangladeshi Passports at Benapole Port

A truck driver from India was detained at the Benapole Land Port’s Cargo Vehicle Terminal gate in Jessore with 20 Bangladeshi passports in his possession. The incident occurred on Thursday night, July 3, 2025, when Ansar members on security duty apprehended the individual and recovered the passports, which bore Serbian visa stickers and seals.

The detained truck driver, identified as Becharam Pramanik (43), hails from Kalopur Belermath village in Bongaon Thana, North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, India.

According to Ansar members stationed at the Benapole Cargo Vehicle Terminal, Becharam Pramanik arrived at the Benapole Land Port from Petrapole, India, on Thursday afternoon, transporting poultry feed in a small truck. After parking the truck inside the terminal, he attempted to leave on foot around 9:30 PM with a shopping bag in hand. Acting on a tip-off, Ansar members detained him and searched the bag, discovering 20 Bangladeshi passports. The passports contained Serbian visa stickers and seals issued on June 23, 2025, from New Delhi, India. The visas, categorized as ‘D’ type, are valid for 180 days from June 24, 2025, to December 23, 2025. The passports belong to residents of Dhaka, Chandpur, Noakhali, Kishoreganj, Brahmanbaria, Satkhira, Gazipur, Manikganj, and Narsingdi districts in Bangladesh.

At around 12:30 PM on Friday, Rasel Mia, Officer-in-Charge of Benapole Port Police Station, confirmed that he had been informed about the detention of the Indian truck driver with the 20 Bangladeshi passports by Ansar members. However, the detained individual and the passports had not yet been transferred to the police station at the time of his statement.

HM Helaluzzaman, the Ansar Camp In-Charge at Benapole Port, stated that they had received prior intelligence about an Indian truck driver smuggling Bangladeshi passports. Following this information, security was heightened at the Cargo Vehicle Terminal gate. Around 9:30 PM, the suspect was detained while attempting to exit with the shopping bag, which contained the 20 passports. The detained driver and the recovered passports are in the process of being handed over to the Benapole Port Police Station on Friday, July 4, 2025.