Agartala: The Border Security Force's (BSF) Tripura frontier, during 2021, seized huge quantity of contraband items having total value of around Rs 35.64 crore as well as apprehending 221 individuals for illegal infiltration, said BSF Inspector General Sushanta Kumar Nath during an annual press briefing on Tuesday.
Nath said that the seized contraband included 88,417 Yaba Tablets worth Rs 3.81 crore, 13,206.99 kg of dry marijuana worth Rs 9.34 crore, 48,200 bottles of Phensedyl / Eskuf syrup worth Rs 78.32 lakh, 8,939 bottles of liquor worth Rs 15.93 lakh, apart from 2,422 cattle heads worth Rs 2.52 crore and large number of other articles such as medicines, garments and sarees as well as other assorted contraband items.
He said that the BSF had been able to apprehend a total of 221 personnel, including 97 Bangladeshi nationals, 118 Indian nationals and six other foreign nationals who were attempting to illegal cross the border in 2021, as compared to a total of 128 in 2020.
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However, he claimed that it was not a sudden increase. “Yes we have caught more people in the 2021 as compared to 2020. But in 2019 the number was almost equal to 2021. So we can’t say it is a sudden increase. Because of COVID pandemic the activities of infiltration were less in the year 2020”, Nath said.
He said that during 2021, the forces maintained strong vigil on the border to prevent trans-border movement of insurgents, particularly in the eastern segment of the state. “BSF Tripura Frontier has also taken initiatives to install smart surveillance system (24 physical location involving 95 Nos of smart surveillance cameras) to enhance the border domination in most smuggling and infiltration prone areas”, the IG added.
