Cattle smuggling on Indo-Bangla border drastically down: BSF

Border Security Force Director General K K Sharma today said cattle smuggling had come down drastically along the Indo-Bangladesh border due to strategic deployment of forces, use of gadgets, and better coordination with the state police.

He said they could not stop 100 per cent smuggling as local population on both sides were dependent on cattle trade for a very long time but they were trying to reduce it, he said.

Sharma, who was on a routine visit here, said that the killings related to cattle smuggling too had come down. He said this year, an officer and a trooper were killed in smuggling incident.

"We have reduced the killings. Earlier, it used to be three figures, in hundreds, now it was in two digits. It was 10 last year, the BSF chief said.

He said the the BSF has been using non-lethal weapons along the Indo-Bangladesh border which has emboldened smugglers.

While noting that no smuggler from across the border was killed this year, Sharma said an Indian smuggler was killed by the BSF.

"We are using pump action guns instead of regular INSAS riffles for guarding the Indo-Bangladesh border. Because of the use of this strategy, the smugglers have become bolder. Attacks on BSF troops have increased and roughly 150 boys and officers of the BSF are injured every year," Sharma told reporters here.

He said cattle smuggling had come down drastically due to the additional deployment of forces and gadgets and better coordination with the state police.

The BSF chief, however, said that the 1,000 km unfenced stretched of the 4,096 km long Indo-Bangladesh border still remained a challenge.

He said the BSF had 3D maps of borders at the Indo-Pak and Indo-Bangla borders and Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used to further improve visibility of the terrain on the other side.