The Bangladesh nationals, all residents of Sylhet district, were returning to their home last night ahead of Eid. The men used to work as labourers in coal fields in Khliehriat area.
From their possession, Rs 30,420 was recovered including five cellphones including a Bangladesh SIM card, the BSF said.
According to the BSF, security has been tightened at the borders to prevent both "infiltration and ex-filtration" of anti-national elements.
Altogether, 62 illegal immigrants were arrested at the international border in Meghalaya this month and cattle worth Rs 19.86 lakh were also seized. A large portion of Meghalaya's 443-km border with Bangladesh is porous due to the absence of fencing, riverine terrain.
Meanwhile, the Khasi Students Union, an influential students body here claimed to have apprehended eleven illegal immigrants from a vehicle in the city outskirt.
The KSU claimed that they were Bangladeshi nationals but were travelling from Assam to West Khasi Hills’s Borsora coal mines to find employment there. The KSU handed over the 11 people who they claimed to be Bangladeshis to the police.