Representational image only. File
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
The South Bengal Frontier of the Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday (March 21, 2025), foiled a major smuggling attempt on the India-Bangladesh International Border in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, recovering 3.387 kg of heroin. The heroin is estimated to be worth about ₹6,77,40,000.
According to a statement by the BSF, personnel stationed at the Border Outpost Pirojpur in Murshidabad were alerted by credible intelligence on Saturday (March 22, 2025) that illegal items could be smuggled from the Sadamachar area.
Three men arrested, heroin worth over ₹50 crore seized, as police apprehend Manipur-based cartel
Based on this intelligence, the jawans had heightened their vigilance, devised a special strategy, and initiated rigorous surveillance across the border region.
Around 4 p.m., two jawans spotted two ‘suspicious individuals’ approaching the International Border from the Indian side towards Bangladesh. When the jawans instructed them to stop and approached them, the smugglers reportedly dumped the contraband in bushes nearby out of fear and tried to escape. According to the BSF, the jawans chased the smugglers and caught one of them. The other escaped.
During the preliminary interrogation, the smuggler admitted to being a Bangladeshi citizen and confessed his involvement in various cross-border smuggling activities in the recent past.
He claimed that the packets of heroin were handed over to him by his Indian associates, who had instructed him to deliver them to another Bangladeshi contact on the other side of the border. In return, he was to receive some money.
Meanwhile, an extensive search operation revealed five packets filled with a ‘suspicious brown powder.’ The recovered packets were immediately seized and sent for testing, after testing it was confirmed that this suspicious powder was heroin. The total weight of the recovered heroin is 3.387 kg and its estimated price is around ₹6 crore 77 lakh 40 thousand.
The BSF said that the arrested Bangladeshi smuggler and the seized heroin have been handed over to the department concerned after completing the necessary legal formalities.
The border between West Bengal and Bangladesh is roughly 2,216 km long, of which about 913 km between the Sundarbans in the south and Malda in the north falls under the jurisdiction of the South Bengal Frontier. The lack of fencing and the presence of waterbodies in the region make the area prone to smuggling and infiltration attempts.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in response to a question by member of Lok Sabha from the Trinamool Congress Khalilur Rahman informed the Parliament that contraband items worth ₹4,6107.70 lakh were seized along the India-Bangladesh border in 2024.
This figure marks an increase in the seizure of contraband items compared to previous years. According to data shared by the Ministry, items worth ₹43197.44 lakh were seized in 2023 and items worth ₹34947.73 were seized in 2022 from the India-Bangladesh border.
Published – March 23, 2025 02:47 pm IST