Armed Police Force personnel at Kabahigoth along the Nepal-India border in Bara district fired warning shots after some members of the public from the Indian side attacked the security personnel on Thursday.

Around a 100 people from a neighbouring Indian town gathered at the no-man’s-land and created a ruckus at the APF checkpoint. Earlier in the day, security personnel in the Nepali side had sent back two Indian nationals from the border who were trying to enter Nepal. According to Superintendent of Police Digbijaya Subedi, around 100 people from Hanumannagar village in India barged the security post and vandalised it after those two people were sent back to their village.

“We exercised restraint and averted any untoward incidents. We coordinated with the Indian security force and contained the situation,” said Subedi.

According to Raju Aryal, the deputy inspector general of the Armed Police Force, security personnel of both countries are working in coordination to prevent people from crossing the border.

In two other areas—Basbariya and Balirampur—of the district, residents of bordering villages had also attempted to cross the sealed border for personal work. They were stopped by border police.

The Nepal-India border has been sealed for over a month to control the possible spread of Covid-19. The Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday decided to extend the nationwide lockdown until May 18 and to continue closing all border points until May 31.

Similarly, on Monday evening, a group of around 200 Indian nationals armed with batons attempted to attack the border security personnel deployed at Juligachhi settlement in Jhapa. The incident occurred as Nepal Police personnel stopped two Indian nationals on a motorcycle from entering Nepal.

On Wednesday, a scuffle broke out between four homebound Indian nationals and APF personnel deployed near Ratnapur in Gulariya Municipality, Bardiya, as the former were barred from crossing the border by the security personnel. APF Inspector Dilliram Chaudhary reached the incident site after the four men attacked the security personnel on duty.

In connection to the incident, police briefly detained Birendra Mallaha, Ramchandra Mallaha, Raj Kumar and Indal Mallaha and later handed over to the chairman of Gulariya Municipality Ward No. 10 Birendra Chaudhary. Police claimed the accused were involved in smuggling goods across the border during the lockdown.