BSF accuses BDR of helping smugglers

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Nov. 15: Mr Dharamveer Saraswat, deputy inspector general, Malda BSF sector, yesterday wrote a letter to senior Bangladesh Rifles officials accusing them of helping cattle smugglers along the Indo-Bangladesh border. “I had to write the letter to the BDR officials when I came to know that the BDR opened four rounds of firing within 10 minutes after the death of a 20-year-old Bangladeshi cattle smuggler in the BSF firing”, Mr Saraswat, said. The BSF officials said that a 20-year-old Bangladeshi cattle smuggler was killed in BSF firing at Binpur under the jurisdiction of 57 Battalion of BSF on Monday night, around 10.15 pm. According to them, a gang of five armed cattle smugglers were taking away a herd of cattle after cutting down the barbed wire fencing at Binpur village in South Dinjapur. The Indian border guards fired at smugglers when they attacked them. One of the smugglers died on spot and the others managed to escape. The body was lying on the borderline within 150 yards till this morning. The BSF officials said with the help of thermal imager, installed in spots along the border, they detected the group of smugglers and decided intercepted them. “Thermal imager, a newly installed device, is helping us to check border crime”, the BSF officials said.They added that the device helps watching the activities from a distance of at least 600 metres at night”, the BSF officials said. The BSF officials claimed that over the past few months, over 6,000 smuggled cattle were seized along the border and the Bangladeshi people are now facing crisis of cow meat. As a result, the Bangladeshi cattle smugglers were adamant to take away herd of cattle from Indian side in connivance with the BDR, the BSF officials claimed. The DIG, Mr Saraswat, said that border security forces seized smuggled items, mainly cattle, worth of Rs 2 crore in October 2006.