Kolkata, Aug 16 (IANS): Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday arrested two cattle smugglers and seized 11 cattle heads in separate raids across the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) under the jurisdiction of the South Bengal Frontier.

BSF, South Bengal Frontier, DIG and Spokesperson, A. K. Arya, said that the two smugglers are from the Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

“Nimtita Border Outpost jawans in Murshidabad were scanning the border with Hand Held Thermal Imagers (HHTIs) when they detected some objects floating in the River Ganga close to the Indian village of Durgapur,” the DIG said.

He said that the speed boat patrol party was immediately alerted over the radio and they reached the spot within minutes.

“They found two persons swimming towards Bangladesh with three medium-sized cow calves and two large bulls. The patrol party forced the duo to turn back and they were apprehended as soon as they reached the riverbank,” the DIG said.

He said that the two, along with the cattle, were taken to the Nimtita BOP where they were identified as residents of Durgapur and Loharpur villages.

He added that the two confessed that they had been offered a large sum of money by a person in Murshidabad to take the cattle heads across the river to Bangladesh.

“In other raids under the jurisdiction of the Kumarpur and Kedaripara BOPs, six more cattle heads were seized while being smuggled across the IBB. The smugglers managed to escape though. The smugglers and the seized cattle have been handed over to the police,” the DIG said.

He said that the BSF is taking strict measures to put a stop to smuggling along the IBB, adding that the smugglers are now taking desperate measures such as smuggling cattle across rivers.

“However, they cannot escape the clutches of our speed boat patrols that are monitoring all movement across rivers,” the DIG said.