Smugglers mostly operate during floods & winter: BSF Guwahati Frontier

INFILTRATORS ALONG INDIA-BANGLADESH BORDER

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The maximum numbers of infiltrators across the India-Bangladesh border in Assam and West Bengal are smugglers.

This has been revealed by the Border Security Force (BSF) Guwahati Frontier at a time when Assam has been witnessing agitation, politics and political mudslinging for the alleged unabated illegal influx of Bangladeshi nationals by crossing the international border.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the Inspector General of the BSF Guwahati Frontier, Rajesh Kumar said that even though the smugglers from both sides of the India-Bangladesh border continuously change their modus operandi to cross the border, the BSF jawans always remain on high alert to foil the attempts of these smugglers. The BSF Guwahati Frontier is engaged in guarding the India-Bangladesh border in Dhubri and South Salmara districts in Assam and the Cooch Behar district in West Bengal.

"Nearly 90 km of the Indo-Bangladesh border under the jurisdiction of the BSF Guwahati Frontier is covered by the Brahmaputra. The riverine border is a major challenge for us as the use of force to push back the infiltrators is not always humanly possible. But the BSF is using CCTV monitoring and boat patrolling to prevent infiltration from across the border. If any intrusion activity is noticed, our jawans send information to the control room. The BSF personnel patrolling the border are guided accordingly to foil such intrusions," said Kumar.

He further said that the smugglers often exploit the current of the Brahmaputra to smuggle their goods. "The smugglers take advantage of floods, rainy season and winter to carry out their activities. They often try to exploit the high current of the Brahmaputra during the floods and the dense fog during the winter. We increase our deployment along the border during these times," said the IG of BSF.

Information and interrogation of the arrested smugglers have indicated that they had no intention to make intrusions across the border. Their main purpose was to smuggle cattle and other goods.

In between December 1, 2019 and November 30, 2020, the BSF Guwahati Frontier made seizures worth nearly Rs 22 crore. The seized smuggled items included cattle heads, phensedyl, Yaba tablets, Sukhi tablets, ganja, opium and others. In the last one year, as many as 24,060 cattle were rescued and 245 Indian smugglers and 32 Bangladeshi smugglers were arrested.

Kumar added that the people living along the border areas are poor, illiterate and dependent on agriculture. Besides, their living condition often forces many among them to engage in criminal activities. He pointed out that the BSF carries out awareness drives among these people. The BSF also conducts joint operation with the Assam Police to find out criminals in the border areas. Information and inputs are also gathered from Bangladesh to know the details of criminals — especially the smugglers.

On the issue of re-smuggling of the seized cattle, the BSF IG said that the Force is working on the system of tagging the animals to prevent such menace. The BSF is improving infrastructures at BOPs (Border Out Posts) along the border so that the jawans could maintain constant vigil on the riverine border during the floods and also the winter season.

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