Bangladeshi smugglers once again attacked the vigilant jawans of BSF South Bengal Frontier in Malda district of West Bengal and tried to smuggle contrabands forcefully. The vigilant and courageous jawans posted at Border Outpost Nawada of 119th Battalion of BSF firmly faced the deadly attack. Maintaining composure even in adverse conditions, were forced to fire in self-defense and foiled the plan of forceful smuggling and drove all the smugglers back to Bangladesh. 572 bottles of Phensedyl, sharp-edged weapons and a high-beam torch were recovered from the spot.
According to information received, on the night of 10/11 January, during the second shift duty at the border post Nawada, at about 0210 AM, the jawans saw the movement of 15-20 armed Bangladeshi smugglers in the Indian border area, who were rapidly moving towards the border fencing. Simultaneously, the presence of smugglers was also noticed on the Indian side of the barbed wire. The jawan present there immediately alerted his fellow jawans and ran towards the smugglers and challenged them. But the Bangladeshi smugglers ignored the challenge and started forcefully moving towards the fencing, flashing high beam torches in the eyes of the jawans. The jawans fired 2 blank rounds in the air to disperse the smugglers, but it had no effect on the smugglers. Instead, with the intention of disabling the jawans with the high beam light of the torch, they attacked them with sharp weapons and sticks. The jawans present somehow managed to save himself and fired 2 live rounds at intervals towards the smugglers in self-defense and to stop forcefully smuggling. By then other jawan nearby also reached the spot. Seeing the alertness of the BSF party and their reinforcement, the smugglers panicked and taking advantage of the darkness and the mango orchard, fled towards Bangladesh and India respectively. After a thorough search of the spot, 572 Phensedyls, 1 Dah and a torch were recovered from there. The possibility of any smuggler getting injured in the firing done in self-defense cannot be ruled out.
Apart from this, in Murshidabad district, at the border outposts Nandanpur and Farjipara of the Sector headquarters Berhampur and in Malda district, at the border outposts Harinathpur and Churiyantpur of the Sector headquarters Malda, unsuccessful attempts of smuggling and infiltration were made by Bangladeshi smugglers and illegal intruders, where the jawans, in self-defense, fired stun grenades, PAG and other weapons on the cattle smugglers and illegal intruders, foiling the forceful attempts of smuggling and illegal infiltration, seized illegal drugs, 05 cattles and other illegal goods.
The firing incidents and subsequent seizures have been reported to the respective police stations, and the confiscated items have been handed over to the concerned authorities.
The spokesperson for the BSF South Bengal Frontier stated that such incidents are not uncommon during their duty. The BSF personnel continue to perform their duties with exceptional courage and vigilance. Despite regular flag meetings with the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) to address these forced infiltration and attack attempts by Bangladeshi criminals, no concrete actions have been taken by the BGB, emboldening the smugglers and criminals. Nevertheless, the BSF personnel remain steadfast in protecting the borders and ensuring the nation’s security under all circumstances.
