South Dinajpur (West Bengal): An alleged Bangladeshi smuggler was killed and a Border Security Force personnel was injured in the Hili area of the Indo-Bangladeshi border in West Bengal on Friday. According to a BSF statement, a group of smugglers attacked a BSF jawan, who fired gunshots in self-defense, killing one of the smugglers in the process.
The deceased, identified as Babu, son of Abul Hossain, was a resident of Vill-Fakirpara under Hakimpur police station in Bangladesh's Dinajpur. The 61 Battalion BSF spotted some suspicious activity in the area Friday evening. A youth was seen running from the Indian border village Kundapura towards an abandoned rice mill in the general area of Hili along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
The BSF said that their on-duty soldier jumped over the fence and entered the rice mill to nab the man but all of a sudden he was attacked with bamboo poles and choppers. In self-defense, the BSF personnel fired one round in the air to scare off the smugglers. But, the smugglers continued their attack.
The BSF personnel fired another round of bullets which hit one of the smugglers, who fell down. The rest of the smugglers then fled the area towards the Bangladesh border. The release stated that the BSF personnel sustained severe injuries and was rushed to the hospital while the injured smuggler was taken to PHC, Hili where doctors declared him brought dead.
The BSF has recovered two bamboo poles, 79 bottles of banned drugs, 10 strips of banned drugs, 2,400 Bangladeshi Taka and a mobile phone from the spot. Last week, Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had slammed the BSF for "murdering" a 24-year-old man in connection with allegedly cow-smuggling in South Dinajpur. He sought an answer from Union home minister Amit Shah for the incident and said he would seek justice on behalf of the victim's family.
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