BSF personnel injured by cattle smugglers along India-Bangladesh border

BSF personnel manning India-Bangladesh borders are increasingly coming under attack from smugglers with another jawan being injured by alleged cattle smugglers on Tuesday along the border in western Assam's South Salmara district.

A statement issued by the Guwahati Frontier office of BSF said Bikash Kumar, a jawan belonging to its 6th battalion posted in Deepchar border outpost was attacked with sticks and sharp objects when he objected to a group of 20-25 cattle smugglers, who were trying to smuggle cattle from the Indian side to Bangladesh. The jawan received head injuries and had to be administered two stitches.

"The BSF jawan challenged them but smugglers did not pay any heed and took aggressive posture. Quickly smugglers encircled the jawan on duty and attacked him with bamboo sticks and sharp-edged cleaver. During the scuffle, one of the smugglers hit Kumar on his forehead with a bamboo stick and got him injured. After that, smugglers ran away taking advantage of dense fog," said the statement.

BSF jawans were similarly attacked by smugglers in the past too. India and Bangladesh share 4,049-km borders in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram. The Guwahati Frontier headquarters guards 509-km borders in Assam and Bengal, of which 91.72 km are riverine and difficult terrains. The BSF on Sunday said the smugglers were changing modus operandi to smuggle cattle, drugs and other items and are taking advantage of the cold weather and fog.

Stepping up efforts to check smuggling, the Guwahati Frontier of BSF seized items worth Rs 20.70 crores during 2020. It seized 22,324 cattle heads in 2019 and 22,321 during 2020 while drugs such as phensidyl cough syrup, Yaba tablets, Sakhi tablets, ganja and opium were also seized. It also arrested 17 Bangladeshi nationals in 2019 and the number increased to 35 in 2020.