Two Bangladeshi smugglers were killed by the Border Security Force (BSF) near the Indo-Bangladesh border at Sitai locality in Cooch Bihar district of West Bengal in the early morning of November 12 at around 3 AM. One BSF trooper was also injured after smugglers attacked the BSF patrolling party which tried to stop them while entering Indian territory.
According to the reports, the BSF team spotted some Bangladeshi smugglers trying to smuggle cattle by lifting them over the barbed wire fence using improvised cantilevers. They entered Indian territory by using ladders out of iron bars to cross the fence. When the BSF warned them to go back, the smugglers attacked BSF personnel with iron rods, sticks and sickles. One BSF personnel suffered injuries in the attack and he was rushed to the hospital. Initially, BSF personnel utilised non-lethal weapons to deter miscreants but used force after the smugglers attacked them. Later, two bodies of smugglers were spotted near the international boundary.
BSF also issued a statement regarding the encounter. “On 12th Nov 2021 at about 0300 hrs, miscreants from Bangladesh side ventured into Indian territory and tried to smuggle cattle heads by establishing improvised bamboo cantilever. BSF domination ahead of the fence warned them to go back, but miscreants didn’t pay heed to BSF, “ it said.
On the other hand, journalist Anupam Mishra claimed that not two but three died in the encounter between BSF and cattle smugglers. He also shared the video of a deceased smuggler.
He said that ruling TMC has alleged that this incident was a fallout of Centre expanding the jurisdiction of BSF to 50 km.
Notably, the Union Home secretary Ajay Bhalla today (November 12) is set to visit Kolkata and he will meet West Bengal chief secretary H K Dwivedi to discuss pending land acquisition for construction of border fence, road projects, Border Out Posts (BOPs) and Integrated Check Posts (ICPs). He is also set to meet officials of BSF, coast guard and district magistrates from border areas to discuss security-related issues.