The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) will operationalise its new intelligence unit on Monday with an aim to further spruce up its efforts to tackle criminals and terrorists from taking advantage of friendly-borders with Nepal and Bhutan.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh will announce the operationalistation of the intelligence unit as well as launch the Welfare and Rehabilitation Board (WARB) App at a function here.
The new wing will have 650 field and staff agents to gather actionable information. The SSB has 474 Border Out Posts (BOPs) on the Nepal border and 131 on the Bhutan border.
With the SSB being declared as the Lead Intelligence Agency (LIA) for both the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders, this unit will help in providing a well-knit intelligence network to anticipate threats.
The SSB guards the two borders where there are no restrictions on the movement of people on either side. The area under SSB jurisdiction comprises densely populated foot hills and plains, thick jungles, under developed regions and inhospitable terrains.
SSB Director General Archana Ramasundram had earlier said that this much needed wing would result in marked improvement in SSB’s performance in the times to come.
"There is trans-border movement of criminals and anti-national elements and it pose a major challenge on the border in the context of the visa free regime. Most of the stretches of the border are infested with ISI activists, insurgent groups, Maoists, fundamentalists, smugglers of narcotics, arms and fake currency and human traffickers," a senior official said.
The SSB had earlier send a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs for setting up an intelligence unit to strengthen the efficiency and operational mandate of the force on borders and for internal security duties in Jammu and Kashmir and anti-naxal duties, the official said.
Published 17 September 2017, 21:43 IST