The desperation of smugglers smuggling cattle over the international border of India and Bangladesh has reached a new height. The Border Security Force (BSF) personnel on July 24 recovered cows with crude bombs tied around their necks aimed at targeting troops who try to catch them. BSF officials expressing concerns on the fatal strategy adopted by the smugglers said that this is the first time they have come across this cruel method.
The jawans from border outpost Harudanga in Murshidabad district (West Bengal), recovered a few cattle from the river who were tied to banana plantains with crude bombs placed inside a small aluminium canister on their necks.
These cattle were deliberately dropped in monsoon-water laden rivers from Malda, Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts, an official said.
A senior BSF official from South Bengal Frontier told The Times Of India that one wrong move could explode the bomb, killing and injuring several people. He highlighted that pushing cattle into tidal rivers is a new strategy that the smugglers from Bangladesh and their associates from this side of the border have come up with.
The official also said that on the night of July 23 and July 24, BSF troops seized around 365 cattle along the International Border.
Explaining the risk of the task, an official compared it with walking on a minefield at night. He said while one cattle might not have a bomb on its neck whereas, the next one can kill and bring destruction.
Noticing a significant rise in the cattle smuggling, the BSF have deployed a large number of additional troops, motorboats and surveillance gadgets to reduce the crime.
Following the discovery of crude bombs, BSF jawans were asked to take extra cautions while pulling the ropes used to tie the cattle.
On the early morning of July 25, BSF jawans were attacked by smugglers near Bousari in the Behrampore sector. During the encounter, smugglers hurled two stun grenades and open fire at the security forces. One of the bullets destroyed a pump-action gun that one trooper was carrying. The issue has been discussed with the security forces of Bangladesh.
In the last two weeks around 1,500 cows and buffaloes have been seized at the international border. One possible reason that has led to the increase of cattle smuggling is that the cost of per cattle has increased to Rs 1.4 lakh from Rs 80,000.
