- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, January 25, 2022 : The Inspector General (IG) of the Border Security Force (BSF) Sushanta Kumar Nath, Tripura Frontier on Tuesday claimed that the cross-border infiltration had declined in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking in a press conference at BSF, Tripura Frontier headquarters here at Salbagan, Nath said “The security force personnel had successfully detained a total of 221 infiltrators comprising of 118 Indian nationals, 97 Bangladeshi nationals and six of other nationalities while attempting to cross the international border of India and Bangladesh illegally. In 2020, a total of 128 persons were arrested for illegally entering through the borders.”
“The long-pending issue of single row fencing in certain patches remains unfenced for a long time. However, six such gaps between BSF and its counterpart ‘Border Guards of Bangladesh’ (BGB) had been resolved after long territorial disputes”, he added.
IG of BSF said “The force has also taken initiatives at the local level to plug the Nullah and culvert gaps, particularly in the eastern part of the state. Initiatives are taken to install a smart surveillance system at 24 physical location involving 95 smart surveillance cameras to enhance the border domination in most smuggling and infiltration prone areas”.
Being asked about a smaller number of arrests compared to a large number of seizures, Nath said “Most of the time, the smugglers threw their articles from one side of the fence to the other. BSF personnel reaches those spots whenever certain confidential information is being received regarding the movement of suspected smugglers. Whenever the smugglers sense any trouble, they leave the substances and flee away. In such instances, the BSF has filed FIRs with local police station naming the persons involved in case the identity is revealed and I am sure the agencies concerned have taken effective steps.”
Nath said “In total, 31 militants have surrendered before the BSF with arms and ammunition, and returned to mainstream life. Last year, the total seizures have done worth Rs 35.64 crore including Narcotic substances. A total 88,417 Yaba Tablets, 13,206 kgs of dry Ganja, Phensedyls and Eskuff syrups, etc were seized while cannabis plantations worth over Rs 24 crore have also been destroyed during separate operations around the year.”
Meanwhile, the Units, Sectors and HQr BSF Tripura Frontier has been regularly organizing various sports across different campus by involving the local population, school children and also its counterpart BGB personnel to enhance good cooperation and better coordination.
