Petrapole (WB), Jan 9 (PTI) As the sun set over a thick fog-covered Sonai River cutting across the India-Bangladesh border in this remote corner of North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, jawans of the Border Security Force (BSF) readied themselves to thwart smuggling attempts on yet another chilly winter night.

The riverine border, lacking physical fencing, only ups the challenge for the force to stop attempts to smuggle goods ranging from alcohol-containing cough syrups to gold and silver, besides containing the menace of human trafficking, a senior BSF official said.

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The unfenced Sonai River, which borders India and Bangladesh in some parts of the district, is considered to be a smuggling hotspot owing to the difficult landscape it navigates and the lack of road infrastructure along significant parts that adds to guarding challenges.

Cross-border smugglers become active mainly when visibility is low during winters and the river swells during the monsoons, said a source conversant with such activities in the area.

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A section of non-cooperative villagers from hamlets located adjacent to the border on the Indian side also hinder the forces' job, he added.

While illegal immigration and smuggling of gold into Indian territories are attempted from the other side of the border, the items of choice for smuggling out to Bangladesh are Phensedyl, a cough syrup with alcohol content, hemp, silver and garments, the official said.

A senior BSF official said that while over 160 kg of gold was seized in the South Bengal Frontier region in 2023, more than 176 kg of the precious metal was seized the year after.

"We made a high amount of seizures of gold in the last two to three years, which was not the case earlier," he said.

In most cases, arrests have been made along with seizure of the consignments, he continued.

"In 2023 alone, 493 Indian smugglers and 186 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested. In addition, 45 Indians and eight Bangladeshis acting as facilitators in illegal infiltration were apprehended that year," he said.

In 2024, the BSF official said, 339 Indians and 116 Bangladeshis were arrested for smuggling, while 34 Indian and three Bangladeshi touts were apprehended by the force in the South Bengal Frontier region for facilitating illegal immigration.

Interestingly, state chief minister Mamata Banerjee had on January 2 accused the BSF of allowing infiltration from Bangladesh and alleged that they were doing so as part of a central government's "blueprint" to destabilise the state.

A senior BSF official in the eastern region, on condition of anonymity, had dismissed the allegations, emphasising that the border guarding force was performing its duties with utmost sincerity.

"The BSF is doing a wonderful job, given the available resources amid the constraints," the official at Petrapole said.

Speaking to a group of visiting journalists, he said that there had been no change in the attitude of their counterparts, Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB), since the takeover of an interim government in the neighbouring nation after prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India on August 5, 2024, following a student movement there against her government.

"They are responding positively and business is as it was before," the official said.

The BSF South Bengal Frontier, which is in charge of guarding 913-km long borders comprising 550 km on land and the remaining on water, between India and Bangladesh, apprehended 349 Indians illegally crossing over to India from Bangladesh in 2023, while 582 Indians were caught sneaking into the neighbouring nation.

In the same year, 1053 Bangladeshi nationals crossing over to India were apprehended and 495 nationals of that country trying to sneak into the neighbouring nation illegally were caught, he said.

In 2024, the numbers of incoming and outgoing Indians caught in the South Bengal Frontier region were 239 and 347 respectively, the BSF official said.

The corresponding figures for Bangladeshis caught coming into India illegally and those trying to leave for the neighbouring nation were 1,262 and 564 respectively in the last year, he said.

The figures of people apprehended between August 5 and December 31, 2023, were 394 Indians and 833 Bangladeshis, the official informed.

Since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5 in 2024 to December end, the arrest figures were 245 Indians and 1,102 Bangladeshis, he said.

"This is a marginal increase, contrary to what was expected after the political upheaval there," he stated, comparing the numbers for the same period, in wake of the fact that both countries have restricted legal travel to each other's territories.

He further maintained that there has not been a significant change in the number of illegal activities in cross-border movement since August 5 last year.

The BSF maintained that cross-border cattle smuggling dipped in the past few years and claimed credit for both for itself and allied agencies.

"Now the number of attempted cattle smuggling barely touches 1,000 across the year, which used to be 1,000 daily in the South Bengal Frontier area before 2023," he said.

He said that the BSF is rather more worried over the rise in the smuggling of Phensedyl, a cough syrup seen as a substitute for alcohol, to Bangladesh from India.

"Not a single day passes when we are not making five to six seizure operations of Phensedyl. That means attempts to smuggle the syrup are on and that is a cause for concern," he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)