Biswabrata Goswami
KRISHNAGAR, 8 AUG: A BSF jawan suffered a bullet injury on his right hand in the firing by trans-border drug smugglers along the India-Bangladesh international border at Jhanti Para of Hatkhola under Chapra police station limits in Nadia at around 5 pm on Monday.
The injured jawan who has been identified as Satish Kumar of 82 Bn BSF Battalion, was immediately taken to the Chapra rural hospital from where he was shifted to the Saktinagar district hospital in Krishnagar. The condition of the jawan is stable, a hospital source said.
The incident occurred within hours after the Special Operation Group (SOG) of Krishnagar Police District recovered 3000 bottles of banned Phensydil cough syrup from a place under Kotwali police station which were being smuggled to Bangladesh yesterday.
According to the local residents, acting on a tip-off, four BSF jawans carried out a search operation on two Toto vehicles on the suspicion that banned phensydil cough syrup bottles were being smuggled. But, no such bottles were primarily found from the vehicles. The BSF jawans then started quizzing two men following which they found the name of one Safique Sheikh who had stored such bottles for transporting to Bangladesh.
The BSF jawans then raided the house of Safique Sheikh, but a few smugglers who covered their mouths with cloth challenged the jawans who were then unarmed. During the confrontation, one of the smugglers fired at the jawan and fled the scene.
The jawans immediately sent SOS to their battalion about the incident and a good number of jawans on four vehicles reached the spot immediately. They gheraoed the area and started resorting to a lathicharge on the people, a local resident said.
Meanwhile, BSF has released a Press brief regarding this incident saying that 15 to 20 smugglers wrapped their mouths with the clothes fired upon the BSF party with country made weapons. BSF men took cover, but due to the presence of women and children, they did not retaliate to the firings.
During the raid on the house of Safique Sheikh, the BSF jawans recovered a large number of phensydil bottles in gunny bags and cartons. But, when the BSF was injured and the armed smugglers managed to flee the scene and took away all the seized phensydil bottles from the area, the BSF release stated.
The BSF also asked the Chapra police to register two separate cases under NDPS Act and attempt to murder and Arms Act against the smugglers. They also asked the police to arrest the smugglers immediately.
Tags: #BSF #JawanInjured #Chapra #Hatkhola #Phensydil
