Cattle smuggler shot dead by BSF in Tripura

A cattle smuggler was shot dead by BSF troops near the Indo-Bangla international border in Tripura's Sepahijala district on Saturday, police said.

Sonamura, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Souvik Dey told reporters that one Sharif Miah alias Tuhin (25), from Putia village in Kamthana area of Sonamura was challenged while smuggling cattle into the neighbouring country by BSF personnel of 74 Battalion deployed along India-Bangladesh border in the area.

"A group of people breached Indo-Bangla fence in the early hours this morning to smuggle cattle. One Vijay Kumar, a BSF constable challenged them. But the smugglers attacked him with sharp weapons. The personnel shot them in the legs with a non lethal weapon. The victim was stooping low, got hit in the chest and died," the SDPO said.

A senior BSF officer from Tripura frontier said their personnel opened fire from a non lethal pump action gun to incapacitate the smugglers since they had mounted an attack on him.

"The aim was to immobilize and incapacitate them. Unfortunately, a smuggler died accidentally", the official said.