Balurghat, March 9: The Border Security Force (BSF) has requested the Union home ministry to erect truck-scanning gates at checkposts on the border with Bangladesh so that the paramilitary wing can easily and flawlessly search vehicles.

The request comes in the backdrop of intelligence reports suggesting the presence of militant camps on the Bangladeshi soil.

Deputy-inspector-general of the BSF’s Malda range, Pravat Kumar Tomar, said trucks laden heavily with goods could not be searched thoroughly and it was very difficult to detect if arms and ammunition were being smuggled into or out of the country. “It’s a very time-consuming and rigorous work to load and unload goods to check for suspicious material,” he said. Tomar wanted such a facility to be first set up at Hili, South Dinajpur.

The BSF currently searches trucks with metal detectors if and when there are intelligence inputs on the movement of suspicious materials. “Only with a truck-scanner can we be absolutely sure about each vehicle’s contents,” said Tomar.

A senior BSF officer said although the home ministry had sent the Bangladesh government maps pinpointing terror camps on its soil and requested their destruction, nothing had been done.