A total of 90 Bangladeshi sailors and fishermen, detained in India for weeks, have returned home.
They were brought to the Bangladesh Coast Guard Jetty in Patenga and handed over to their families on Tuesday morning.
The Indian authorities handed over the 90 individuals to the Bangladesh Coast Guard Sunday afternoon during a prison exchange programme at the Bangladesh-India Maritime Boundary Line, as part of a bilateral agreement between the two countries.
In return, Bangladesh handed over six Indian fishing trawlers along with 95 Indian fishermen, who had been detained since October.
Among the 90 returnees, 78 were on board two Bangladeshi fishing trawlers, FV Layla 2 and FV Meghna 5, which were detained by the Indian Coast Guard on December 9.
The remaining 12 were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard on September 12 last year after their fishing boat sank at sea, said Captain Zahirul Hoque, zonal commander of the Bangladesh Coast Guard East Zone.
BD-Pratidin English/ARK
