TURA: A cattle smuggler was shot dead by the BSF personnel guarding India-Bangladesh border in Garo Hills of the state.
According to the police and BSF sources, a lone BSF sentinel on night duty in a corner of Kalaichar sector of the international border in Garo Hills had to open fire after a group of cattle smugglers from the neighbouring country tried to attack him when he intercepted their attempt to smuggle out cattle on Sunday night. One of the attackers was killed in the firing while the rest fled back to their country.
Around 10-12 miscreants from the neighbouring country had sneaked into Kalaichar area of south West Garo Hills district through an open culvert on the night of July 2 with an intention to smuggle out cattle. The smugglers were trying to drive the cattle out through the river bank when the BSF sentry on duty atop a watch tower spotted them.
When challenged the men tried to attack him by rushing towards his position throwing sticks, bamboos, machetes and other lethal weapons. The BSF jawan opened fire from his service rifle in self-defence forcing the smugglers to abandon the stolen cattle and flee into Bangladesh territory through the open culvert below.
The cattle were rounded up after arrival of BSF reinforcements while the body of the smuggler was found lying next to a water body close to the international border.
The nokma of Kalaichar was called in to identify the body and the deceased could not be identified as an inhabitant of the area.
Police later took custody of the body and a post mortem was conducted. The BSF officials are expected to hand over the corpse to the Bangladesh Border guards (BBG) on Thursday.
There have been several instances in recent past where cattle have been smuggled out from Garo hills into the neighbouring country. The BSF force manning the border have also seized large numbers of cattle which they intercepted during several border operations.
According to BSF officials, there have been several successful operations to plug gaps along the border with Bangladesh. However, smugglers are taking advantage of the river route and presence of open culverts, continue with their operations. Frequent landslides during the monsoon season cause damage to border fencing that is also targeted by smugglers to sneak into Indian territory.
