West Bengal: The Border Security Force (BSF) on Tuesday foiled an attempt to smuggle 17 kg of silver ornaments worth Rs 12.7 lakh along with medicines and liquor through passenger buses at the Indo-Bangladesh border. The BSF apprehended six bus drivers and helpers along with silver ornaments from two passenger buses of Green Line Travels.
The jawans have also seized illegal medicines and liquor from the bus that are estimated at Rs 6.2 lakh. During the search, the jawans seized 12 bundles of medicines, 18 bottles of liquor and a large quantity of silver ornaments from two buses. On inquiry about the above items, the drivers and helpers of the buses stated that these items were hidden by them in the buses for the purpose of smuggling. Following this, the BSF jawans immediately caught the bus drivers and helpers on the spot and seized the goods.
The apprehended smugglers have been identified as Indrajit Rai S/o Anil Roy, Bhola Paul S/o Nepal Paul, Sameer Saha S/o Nishankar Saha, Mohammad Arsad S/o Sanaullah Saeed, Jaber Qaqbal Laskar along with Mohd. Amin. During interrogation, they revealed that all of them are Indian passport holders. They further revealed that they received silver ornaments from Dharmatala, Kolkata and were to hand them over to a smuggler named Badrarul in Dhaka.
During interrogation, they further disclosed that they received the medicines from a person named Ali Bhai and told to hand them over to a smuggler named Badshah in Dhaka. They also revealed that they also got liquor bottles from Rajeev of Dharmatala and about to handed over to Ripon, who lives in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Further, they told that they were to get 1000 Bangladesh Taka for 1 kg of silver ornaments, 1800 Bangladesh Taka for a bundle and 2200 Bangladesh Taka for the seized liquor. The apprehended smugglers and the seized goods have been handed over to the Custom Office in Petrapole.
A K Arya, DIG, Public Relations Officer, BSF South Bengal Frontier informed that BSF is taking strict steps to stop smuggling along Indo-Bangladesh border. He stated, "Smugglers, truck drivers and bus drivers try to smuggle many times but the alert BSF troops and the intelligence department are keeping a close watch on their nefarious intentions." He further stated that due to this BSF jawans have been continuously disrupting the plans of smugglers.
ALSO READ | Pakistani intruder shot dead as BSF foils infiltration bid in J-K's Arina sector
ALSO READ | BSF seizes heroin from Sutlej River in Punjab's Ferozepur
