Nearly 40 cr worth of illegal goods, cattle seized in 2020 along Indo-Bangla border: BSF

SHILLONG:

The Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday, informed that it had seized smuggled items and goods, including cattle, worth nearly Rs 40 crore along the Indo-Bangladesh border in 2020.

The Inspector General (IG) of the BSF Meghalaya Frontier, Hardeep Singh, stated that they seized around 10,000 heads of cattle which were smuggled to Bangladesh and the 300 are still in their custody.

“The smuggling of goods especially cattle was again on the rise as soon as (the) lockdown was lifted, and inter-state movement of vehicles was allowed,” Singh said.

Regarding border fencing, Singh informed that they have completed around 70 per cent of 443-kilometre border that Meghalaya shares with Bangladesh.

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“We have issued an order to the construction agency to expedite the construction in the areas which are yet to be fenced. There are some patches which they would require to take clearance from the Bangladesh Government. I hope that the whole border will be fenced very soon,” Singh said.

Singh also said they had raised the issue concerning a demand to erect the fencing from the zero line with the Deputy Commissioners and Chief Secretary.

Concerning the presence of militant camps in Bangladesh, Singh said that according to the Border Guards of Bangladesh (BGB) there are no Indian militant groups in Bangladesh.

“We have no specific inputs about the presence of (the) banned militant organisation, Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) in Bangladesh,” Singh added.

(Edited by Ladiangti Rani)

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