(District – North 24 Parganas)
On September 18, 2023, the alert troops of Border Post Ranghat, 68 Battalion under South Bengal Frontier, achieved a huge success. Based on concrete information, the troops caught a smuggler with 50 gold biscuits and 16 gold bars from their area of responsibility. The weight of the seized gold is 23 kg and its estimated value is Rs 14 crore. The smuggler was trying to bring this gold from Bangladesh to India.
In fact, at 1850 hours on the evening of 18 September, the troops of Border Outpost Ranghat received concrete input that a huge smuggling of gold is going to happen through Van turn located in their area. As soon as the information was received, a squad of troops led by the commander immediately reached Van turn and laid an ambush on the roadside. Shortly afterwards, the troops saw a suspicious bike rider coming towards the van turn. When the bike rider came near, the troops stopped him and interrogated him. During interrogation, the person got nervous and started trying to run away from the spot, leaving the bike behind. The jawans caught him on the spot and brought him along with his bike to the border post Ranghat.
On reaching the post, the troops searched the bike thoroughly. During the search, the jawans found a huge consignment of gold from the air filter of the bike. Jawans confiscated the gold. The arrested smuggler was identified as Indrajit Patra, (age 23 years), S/o Pradeep Patra, village Kulia, District North 24 Parganas.
During interrogation, the smuggler revealed that his brother has a jewelery shop in village Oldanga and he does jewelery work with his brother. He further told that some time ago Sameer (aged 50), resident of village Ranghat, had met him. Sameer had made a deal with him to bring gold from Ranghat to Bangaon. He received an offer from Sameer to give him Rs. 15,000 per month. Today Sameer had handed over this gold to him near his house in village Kulia. After this, he hid this gold in the air filter of the bike and was taking it to Bangaon via the Van turn.
The apprehended smugglers and the seized gold are being handed over to the Customs Office, Bagdah for further legal action.
Last year, South Bengal Frontier, BSF had seized 114 kg of gold on the India-Bangladesh border. This year, South Bengal Frontier, BSF has seized 120 kg of gold so far.
A K Arya, DIG, Public Relation Officer of BSF, South Bengal Frontier has expressed happiness over this achievement of the jawans. He stated that notorious smugglers trap poor and innocent people by luring them with small amounts of money. The gang of notorious smugglers are not directly involved in crimes like smuggling, hence they target poor people. He appeals to people living on the border to report any information related to gold smuggling through their *Seema Saathi helpline no. 14419 or through WhatsApp messages or voice messages on 9903472227 A suitable reward will be given to the person providing concrete information, and their identity will be kept confidential.
