New Delhi: An Intelligence Bureau (IB) report submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has revealed that cattle smugglers along the India-Bangladesh border use gold for payment for the cattle that were smuggled to Bangladesh. Pointing out another major cause of concern, the report said that there is a chance of gold smuggling impacting economic security and may be used for funding anti-national activities such as terror funding and for buying weapons.
“The security threat pertaining to the smuggling of cattle is that the payment for smuggling is sometimes made through reverse smuggling of gold across the international border. There have been instances of cases being registered by the Meghalaya state police for smuggled gold. Interrogation of the arrested accused revealed that the gold is used for payment for the cattle that were smuggled to Bangladesh via the porous borders,” a senior home ministry official told ETV Bharat quoting the report.
According to government data, 9.554 kg of gold has been seized along the Indo-Bangla border in the last two months (January-February) this year by the border guarding agency. The seizure was 114.406 kg in 2022 and 30.497 kg in 2021.
According to the report, though several steps have been taken to strengthen border security, issues of cross-border infiltration and smuggling of illegal goods continue unabated along the porous borders.
“In spite of the progress in border fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border, there are still many areas uncovered by fencing due to topographical challenges. Even in the areas that are covered by fencing, illegal cross-border activities continue by evolving new modus operandi,” the official said.
Many anti-national activities such as smuggling of arms, contrabands, and infiltration happen due to such close socio-economic links between the bordering villages of the Indo-Bangladesh border, the official said.
“Though the BSF has been active in preventing cattle smuggling, it is practically difficult to curb it completely as the smugglers are well aware of the areas across the border that can be used for smuggling activities. There have been instances where the seized cattle that was kept under the custody of the SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Gaushala, was looted by the criminals from Bangladesh overnight by crossing rivers during the winter months,” he said.
Since the smugglers are aware of the points of deployment and patrolling of BSF, there is a need to use drones for monitoring the movement of cattle during the night hours, the report suggested.
“This could help in understanding the movement pattern of smugglers. CCTVs and Alarm systems may be ineffective as there is a probability of them being sabotaged by the criminals involved,” the official said. The official said that militants also use the Indo-Bangladesh border to carry on their hit and run operation.
