(District -North 24 Parganas)
On December 16, 2023, at ICP Petrapole in North 24 Parganas, a highly sensitive area for smuggling, Jawans of the 145th Battalion, BSF under South Bengal Frontier, persistently thwart the plans of smugglers. In a recent incident, they successfully foiled an attempt to smuggle gold, catching a passenger red-handed with a silver-coated gold chain weighing 123.390 grams and estimated at Rs 7,77,357. The passenger was attempting to smuggle the silver-coated gold chain from Bangladesh to India through ICP Petrapole.
Based on available information, Jawans of the 145th Battalion, BSF at ICP Petrapole, detected the suspicious movements of an Indian passport holder during their routine duty. Subsequently, the on-duty BSF jawans isolated and searched the passenger using a metal detector. In the process, they recovered a silver-coated gold chain worn around his neck, strategically concealed with a silver coating to elude detection. Due to a lack of documentation for the chain, the passenger attempted to transport it without a customs declaration, leading to the seizure of the chain and the passenger taken into custody for further questioning.
The arrested passenger has been identified as Abhishek Jagannath, age–21 years, District -Z Tripura, Tamil Nadu.
During questioning, passenger Abhishek Jagannath disclosed that he hails from Tamil Nadu, India. He explained that he had traveled to Bangladesh on June 18, 2023, in search of employment and had been employed at a jewelry shop in Tanti Bazaar, Dhaka. On the day of his return to India, he intended to go home. Raju Pawar, a colleague at the shop, entrusted him with a chain to deliver to Rahul Pawar in the Shangi district of Maharashtra, India, promising him Rs 8000 in return. However, the vigilant Border Security Force personnel at ICP Petrapole apprehended him with the gold chain.
The arrested passenger and the seized gold chain have been handed over to the Customs Office Petrapole for further legal proceedings.
A.K. Arya, DIG, Public Relations Officer, South Bengal Frontier has expressed happiness over this achievement of the jawans. He further said that notorious smugglers trap poor and innocent people by luring them with small amounts of money. Notorious trafficking gangs are not directly involved in crimes like smuggling, so they target poor people. He has appealed to the people living on the border that if they get any information related to gold smuggling, they can give this information to BSF’s Seema Sathi helpline number 14419. Apart from this, South Bengal Frontier has also issued another number 9903472227. WhatsApp messages or voice messages related to gold smuggling can also be sent. An appropriate reward amount will be given to the person giving concrete information and his identity will be kept confidential.
