Twelve Burmese nationals, including women and children, were arrested on Sunday night by Bangladesh Rifles when they were travelling to India through Laxmidari border point in Satkhira District in Bangladesh.

The Laxmidari border area is located in southwestern Bangladesh near West Bengal and Kolkata in India.

Among the arrested are some children, who were identified as 12-year-old Sohel, 12-year-old Yasmin, 4-year-old Asmita, 2-year-old Faruk Mia, and 17-year-old Rejwan Hossain. An elderly man and women were among the remaining arrested.

According to a source, the group is from Kaowachong Village in Buthidaung Township in western Burma's Arakan State.

BDR and local police said the arrested are Rohingya who were entering Bangladesh by crossing the Chittagong border about eight days ago. They say they came to Dhaka from Chittagong by train and reached Satkhira by bus on Sunday.

BDR officers arrested the group while they were trying to cross the Laxmidari border around 8 pm. However, BDR was unable to arrest any traffickers who had helped bring them from Chittagong. The 12 were later handed over to Bangladesh police and a case was filed.

On 15 March, 2010, Bangladesh police also arrested five Burmese nationals from Lama Township in southern Chittagong Hill Tract, for illegally entering Bangladesh.

Those five were identified as Rozina Akhter, Muhmmed Hasan, Anower Hossain, Delwar, and Syed Ahmed. They were handed over to Bangladesh Rifles by the police, who pushed them back to Burma.