BSF Seizes 17 kg Gold Bars Worth Rs 10.25 Crore at Rangahat Border
Smuggler Arrested, Was Using Unique Belt to Hide Gold
Around 17 kg of gold bars, valued at around Rs 10.25 crore, were found being smuggled into India from Bangladesh across a porous section of the international border close to Rangahat in North India by a team of the Border Security Force (BSF). 24--Paradises
Ajar Mandal, a 27-year-old Rajkol resident, was apprehended by the BSF. He was employed to transport the bars from a source in Bangladesh to a predetermined location in Bongaon, North 24-Parganas.
Mandal was turned up to Customs in Calcutta together with the confiscated gold so that legal action could continue.
An intelligence information about an attempted gold smuggling operation was received by the BSF officials assigned to the 68 Battalion on Saturday. In light of this, the Ranaghat border outpost's monitoring personnel were notified. For the vigil, the BSF officials assembled two squads.
The biker who was approaching the Indian side was seen by the jawans on patrol. When our employees discovered that the gold bars were hidden within a unique belt (worn by Mandal), they stopped the motorcyclist and started questioning him. The 16.7-kilogram gold bars were confiscated by our staff, who detained him right away, according to BSF South Bengal Frontier spokeswoman Amerish Arya.
After claiming to be a farmer by trade, accused courier Mandal later admitted to joining a smuggling organization in order to get over "financial problems" under questioning at the border patrol.
"He said that he had received the gold bars from a Bangladeshi Alam Mandal to send to a network member who was involved in Bongaon. But he was apprehended on route, according to a top BSF officer.
According to BSF officials, the force has intercepted 150 kg of gold being smuggled into India as of the end of October. Roughly 23 kg of gold had been taken in September from the Ranaghat region alone by a patrolling party.
"The sheer alertness of our personnel has made this gold seizure a huge success," Arya added.
Nevertheless, BSF officers said that despite their vigilance, smugglers continued to alter their strategies and make a valiant effort to ensnare the underprivileged into working for them.
"We have been making every effort to raise awareness in order to prevent individuals from being ensnared (by smuggling rackets). To enable them to submit information about any such alluring offer or about any smuggling effort that they become aware of, we have also launched a special phone number with WhatsApp at the same time," a senior BSF officer in Calcutta said.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.
