Tripura: Smuggler Attacks on BSF Troops in Sonamura Highlight Increasing Desperation

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Posted in Featured, Northeast, Tripura
Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura

Agartala, October 04, 2024: The ongoing smuggling activities along the porous Sonamura border in Sepahijala district of Tripura continue to escalate, with smugglers resorting to violent tactics in their bid to sustain their illegal cross-border trade. Enabled by corrupt local politicians and police officers, smuggling gangs frequently clash with Border Security Force (BSF) personnel when their operations face obstacles. Smuggling in the region has long been a thriving underground industry.

In the latest incident, a BSF jawan from the 150th Battalion, Harish Chandra Pande, was attacked by a group of smugglers near the Dudhpukur area, under the jurisdiction of Boxanagar police station. The attack occurred this morning when Pande attempted to intercept a smuggling operation at Gate No-188. Pande sustained head injuries and was taken to Sonamura hospital, where he received eight stitches. The prime suspect, Riyad Hossain, remains at large. Despite a First Information Report (FIR) being lodged with Boxanagar police, there is little confidence in the investigation due to alleged police corruption. Locals fear that even if Hossain is apprehended, a weak and defective charge-sheet could result in his swift bail and eventual acquittal.

This is not the first instance of smugglers targeting law enforcement in the region. In October 2017, BSF Assistant Commandant Deepak Kumar Mandal, part of the 145th Battalion, was critically injured while trying to stop a cattle-smuggling operation at the Sonamura border. After being transferred to a hospital in Kolkata, Mandal succumbed to his injuries four days later. In another tragic case from November 2019, sub-inspector Durga Kumar Hrangkhawal of Kalamchaura police station was killed after being deliberately struck by a vehicle carrying smugglers and contraband. In that case, too, a poorly constructed charge-sheet led to the acquittal of all seven suspects involved.

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