International Desk: India’s Border Guard Force BSF has started using night vision drone cameras in areas adjacent to the Bangladesh border. The North Bengal Border Army announced its experimental use on Friday.
A ‘unique operation’ has been successfully conducted to counter cross-border crime as a strategic move, Indian news outlet Live Mint reported, citing the BSF. During the operation, BSF soldiers managed to rescue three cattle from smugglers on the India-Bangladesh border.
A post on BSF’s X handle shared the video of the operation. The post said, ‘Troops of 6 bn@BSFNBFTR successfully carried out a unique operation using night vision drone cameras as part of a strategic and commendable move to counter cross-border crime. They rescued three cattle from smugglers on India-Bangladesh border.
The BSF’s ‘unique operation’ comes days after India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) launched a crackdown on human-trafficking networks. The operation was carried out by the counter-terror agency on November 8 in coordination with BSF and state police forces.
According to the report of news agency ANI, the operation was carried out with the aim of breaking the networks involved in illegal human trafficking involved in the infiltration and settlement of illegal immigrants in India across the India-Bangladesh border.
Earlier, four human trafficking cases were registered at NIA branches in Guwahati, Chennai, Bengaluru and Jaipur. After that, the anti-terrorist agency conducted simultaneous raids and searches at 55 locations. The areas include—Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Haryana, Rajasthan, Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Paducherry.
The NIA claimed to have arrested a total of 44 members of the human trafficking ring in the operation. Of these, 21 are from Tripura, 10 from Karnataka, five from Assam, three from West Bengal, two from Tamil Nadu and one each from Paducherry, Telangana and Haryana.
During the raid, the NIA seized a significant number of fake identity documents including mobile phones, SIM cards, pen drives, Aadhaar cards and Pancards. Besides, more than 2 million rupees in cash and foreign currency equivalent to 4 thousand 550 US dollars have been seized.
On September 9, the first case was registered by the Special Task Force of the Assam Police. According to the NIA, the case is related to a human trafficking network involved in the infiltration and settlement of illegal immigrants, including the Rohingya, across the India-Bangladesh border.
