(Petrapole)
On 07th January, 2023, at 0745 hrs, alert troops of ICP Petrapole, 145 Battalion under South Bengal Frontier received an information that a passenger bus (N R Travels) was coming from Agartala to Kolkata via Dhaka. The troops got the information that gold smuggling is going to happen in this bus. At the same time the Company Commander organised a search party and got the bus stopped at ICP. On a thorough search of the bus, 30 gold biscuits were found in its luggage compartment. The jawans immediately, apprehended the bus driver, conductor and seized bus and gold on the spot and brought them to ICP for further questioning. The weight of the seized gold biscuits is 3,499.14 grams and the estimated value of gold is 1,93,81,739 rupees. They were identified as Md. Farhad (Bus driver) and Md. Amar Farooq (Operator) from Bangladesh.
During interrogation, the smugglers revealed that they have been indulged in this type of smuggling for a long time. Further, they revealed that these biscuits were given to them by Bangladeshi smuggler Md. Kamal, resident of Dhaka. After this they were about to hand over this consignment to Md. Jamal, resident of New Market, Kolkata. They were to get 10,000/- rupees for this work.
The apprehended smugglers and the seized gold were handed over to the Custom Office, Petrapole for further legal action.
The commanding officer of 145 Battalion stated that BSF is constantly trying to stop smuggling on the Border and it has also got success in this work. Due to which people indulged in crimes like smuggling are being apprehended continuously, he stated.
