The Border Security Force (BSF) gunned down one Bangladeshi miscreant when troops opened retaliatory fire after they were attacked at the Nawada area under the Kaliachak Police Station in Malda district last night.
One BSF man was also seriously injured in the attacked perpetrated by armed miscreants that came across the border from the Bangladeshi side, the BSF said. According to the South Bengal Frontier of the BSF, the border guards clashed with more than 20 armed Bangladeshi miscreants late last night when the latter crossed the barbed wire on the India-Bangladesh border and entered almost 200 meters inside the Indian side to smuggle Phensedyl cough syrup.
The body was handed over to the Kaliachak police by the 70th Battalion of the BSF today morning, it is learnt. The BSF also submitted a “protest letter” to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) over the matter, enquiring how the miscreants could enter the Indian side.
According to sources, the deceased has been identified as Ibrahim, 24, of Dhulipara area under the Shibganj police station of Champainababgunj district in Bangladesh. According to police and BSF sources, the armed group of Bangladeshis entered the Indian border post at Nawada area late last night and they planned to smuggle the cough syrup.
“Jawans tried to prevent them, but it was then that the miscreants on the other side suddenly attacked the BSF jawans. The BSF was forced to open fire in self defense and to secure Indian Territory, in which a Bangladeshi miscreant was injured. The injured was given preliminary treatment and taken to the MMCH (Malda Medical College and Hospital), where he was declared dead. The rest of the miscreants fled to the other side,” the BSF said.
“On search of the dead Bangladeshi smuggler, one mobile phone, two sharp weapons and 198 bottles of Phensedyl were found. The BSF has submitted a protest letter to the BGB to stop smugglers from entering the Indian border illegally and to take strict legal action against them,” a statement issued by the BSF’s South Bengal Frontier said.