Kolkata, July 22 The South Bengal Frontier of the Border Security Force (BSF) claims to have made the largest ever single seizure of gold (by any agency) valued at nearly Rs 21.22 crore along the India-Bangladesh Border.
The gold weighed 41.49 kg. None of the smugglers could be apprehended though as they swam back towards Bangladesh, leaving the cache behind in a country boat.
The massive haul on Thursday evening has raised an alert among all agencies and efforts are now on to find out where the gold was to be delivered.
The purpose behind such a large consignment of gold being smuggled across the border is also being ascertained. According to a source, terror funding has not been ruled out. In the recently held DG level talks between the BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh in Dhaka, both sides agreed to work jointly towards preventing cross-border crime.
According a senior official, troops of the 158Bn, posted at Gunarmath Border Outpost in the North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal were alerted of a possible cross border movement by the intelligence wing. Around 6.30 pm, a BSF ambush party noticed 7-8 people rowing across the Ichhamati river from Bangladesh towards India. There were five bags with them.
"As soon as the boat entered Indian territory, the occupants were challenged by the BSF troops. It was dusk and visibility was poor. Initially, the smugglers felt that they could overpower the BSF personnel and moved forward. However, the troops took up the challenge and started towards the boat. The smugglers then jumped into the river and swam back towards Bangladesh. The BSF personnel were armed but maintained restraint as they didn't know what the smugglers were bringing across," the BSF official said.
On opening the five bags, the search party found 321 gold biscuits, 4 gold bars and a gold coin. A check revealed that they were all of 24 Carat. The Bongaon police station and other agencies - from the Centre and state - were alerted. Four mobile phones and packing material was also seized from the boat. Teams are now attempting to trace the Indian numbers with which contact was last made by the smugglers
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