The Border Security Force on Thursday night shot dead two suspected Bangladeshi smugglers while trying to cross the international border in Tripura during an alleged smuggling of Viagra pills. They also seized the contraband worth nearly Rs 14-15 lakh.
One of the deceased, identified as Litan Miah, whose body was found on the Indian side, was handed over to Bangladesh following a post-mortem. The other Bangladeshi citizen who managed to cross the border succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, two Indian smugglers were arrested on Friday in connection with a smuggling attempt in South Tripura district, the police said on Saturday. They were booked under different charges, including the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, Passport (Entry into India)Act, and attempt to murder and produced before a local court the next day.
“A case was lodged at Belonia police station on Friday, and two Indian smugglers were arrested”, said a senior police officer of South Tripura district.
According to sources, the Bangladeshi men turned violent and attacked a BSF personnel posted on duty in the area on Thursday night as he tried to intercept them, noting that a group of 10-15 people from the Bangladesh side was trying to smuggle contraband materials over the barbed wire fencing using wooden planks.
While no BSF official was available for comments, a source in the border guarding agency said that the BSF jawan was forced to shoot at the miscreants in self-defence.
“The BSF jawan saw an ongoing smuggling activity in progress and, upon challenging them to halt said activity and surrender, they started to hurl abuses and tried to intimidate him physically from both sides of the border. He fired towards the Bangladesh side, in which a miscreant was killed on the spot, while a few others were injured, and it was known later that another had died after running back deep inside the neighbouring country,” the source said.
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In March, a BSF jawan and a Bangladeshi miscreant were injured in a clash at Tripura’s Sepahijala district after BSF jawans opened fire with a non-lethal weapon during an ongoing smuggling bid.
In April last year, a clash between BSF personnel close to the Indo-Bangla international border in Sepahijala district left one dead and another injured with a heavy bullet injury.
Tripura shares an 856-km-long international border with Bangladesh, parts of which are still unfenced in patches due to local disputes.
