Indian smuggler nabbed with nearly 12 kg of silver in bicycle tyres
Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 Apr, 2022 10:07 AM
Kolkata, April 27 (IANS) An Indian smuggler has been nabbed by the Border Security Force (BSF) along the International Boundary (IB) with Bangladesh in Murshidabad district of West Bengal with nearly 12 kg of silver pellets hidden inside the tubes of his bicycle tyres.
The haul is valued at nearly Rs 8 lakh. The smuggler Abdul Baki Malitha (40) and the silver pellets have been handed over to the Customs department at Jalangi, Murshidabad, for further processing.
"Around 7.30 a.m. on Tuesday, Malitha, a resident of Ghoshpara village approached the gate of the border fence with a crop sprayer on his bicycle. Troops of the 141Bn BSF, from Border Outpost Farzipara, sensed something wrong with the body language of the villager who claimed that he was on his way to spray pesticide on his crops across the fence.
"The border patrolmen searched his bicycle and detected metal inside the tyres. On deflating them and cutting open the tubes, silver pellets weighing 11.95 kg fell out. These were to be smuggled to Bangladesh. Malitha may have planned to swap his bicycle with another one kept hidden close to a border pillar," a senior official of the BSF's South Bengal Frontier said.
During questioning, Malitha confessed that he had received the silver from Mahibul Mandal and Rabikul Mandal of Kailashgunj village in Jalangi.
He was tasked to deliver the pellets across the border for which he would be remunerated. Malitha came up with this innovative idea to send across the silver to Bangladesh.
Nagendra Singh Rautela, CO, 141Bn BSF, commended his troops for their alertness.
"We are committed towards preventing cross border crime and smuggling. Smugglers are adopting new techniques but our troops are a step ahead and thwarting all their efforts," he said.
With Ukraine closing its airspace after Russia launched a military operation in the country on Thursday, the Indian Embassy in Kiev has asked the Indian nationals to start moving towards the bordering areas so that they can be evacuated safely.
The Indian Embassy in Kiev stated that the helpline numbers are being set up at the respective check-points to facilitate evacuation through the borders. These control rooms will be based in Poland, Romania and Hungary and they will be managed by the Indian officials posted in those countries.
On Thursday, India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had stated that Jaishankar has spoken to concerned officials in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia for setting up camps on the border areas for evacuation of stranded Indian nationals.
An official spokesperson said the affected people or their relatives could call from within Punjab on helpline number 1100 and others from outside India on +91-172-4111905 for seeking information in this regard.
Amid crisis related to wearing of hijab in classrooms, an Amritdhari (baptised) Sikh girl was asked to remove her turban in the reputed Mount Carmel PU College here in accordance with the February 10 High Court's interim order. Some parents of the college also complained of being targeted after their daughters were asked to remove the hijab.
