New Delhi: Smuggling of cattle into Bangladesh has decreased as the number of seizures of the smuggled cattle by India’s border guarding agency (BSF) has registered a declining trend over the last few years.
Official documents in possession of ETV Bharat revealed that seizure of cattle along the Bangladesh Meghalaya border dropped from 10,600 in 2020 to 3,644 in 2023. “In the first two months of this year, BSF’s Meghalaya frontier has seized 274 cattle heads meant to be smuggled into Bangladesh,” a senior BSF official said on Saturday.
According to the official, increased vigil on the borders and the centre's strong directives to the border guarding agencies have restricted the movement of cattle contributing to the drop in smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh from India’s northeastern States.
India and Bangladesh share a 4,096-kilometre-long international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world. Five States in India share its border with Bangladesh including Assam (262 km), Tripura (856 km), Mizoram (318 km), Meghalaya (443 km), and West Bengal (2,217 km). BSF’s Guwahati frontier had seized 8,678 cattle heads in 2022, which dropped to 5,695 in 2023 along the Assam-Bangladesh and Bengal-Bangladesh border.
Dearth of cattle couriers have also led to the decreasing trend of cattle smuggling. “Majority of the criminals who used to smuggle cattle are now engaged in sugar smuggling to Bangladesh. Cattles smugglers who used to get Rs 1,000 per night, are now getting Rs 3,000 through sugar smuggling,’ the official said. The number of cattle smuggled to Bangladesh from India was over 21 lakh in 2013-14. According to an estimate, the flow of cattle smuggling dipped to 2 lakh in 2019-20.
Since the BJP government came to power in 2014, the export of cows has been banned by the central government. “The smuggling of cattle has decreased drastically. There is a clear instruction given to our personnel guarding the border to maintain close vigil and counter all efforts of the anti-social elements to smuggle cattle into Bangladesh,” the official added.
Quite often the Bangladesh cattle smugglers try to smuggle cattle by making a deadly attack on the India-Bangladesh border, another official said. “On the night of July 3, taking advantage of dense and tall jute crops in an unfenced area, Bangladeshi smugglers suddenly attacked the jawans and tried to smuggle cattle at Maluapara under South Bengal Frontier. A Bangladeshi smuggler was injured in the retaliatory action of self-defense of the jawans. A sharp-edged weapon has also been recovered from the smuggler at the spot,” the official said.
Read More
