More than 10,000 cattle and other items worth Rs 40 crore have been seized along India-Bangladesh border in the last one year, the BSF IG said

To check smuggling and intrusion into the Indian territory from Bangladesh, fencing work along the international border between two countries, especially in the Meghalaya section will be completed soon.

“Of Meghalaya’s 443-km international border with Bangladesh, nearly 70 per cent has been fenced. Work is in progress in the unfenced stretches,” BSF Inspector General Hardeep Singh was quoted by as saying

He said clearance is required from the Border Guards Bangladesh for fencing 13 stretches as these areas fall within 150 yards of the zero line, he said.

‘We have already taken up the matter with them and hope to receive the clearance very soon after which the entire border will be fenced,’ Singh said.

More than 10,000 cattle and other items worth Rs 40 crore were seized along the border in the last one year, the BSF IG said.

He said that smugglers used unfenced stretches along the border to smuggle cattle and other items but BSF had heightened its vigil.

Singh, however, denied the presence of extremist camps from across northeast and Meghalaya particularly in neighbouring Bangladesh.

“There is no specific input about the presence of camps of insurgent outfits from the northeast in Bangladesh. The BGB had informed us that there is no such camp,” he said.