Shillong, Sept. 7: The flooded waters of the Simsang and Chillai rivers of Meghalaya are apparently being exploited by smugglers to transport wood, bamboo and even coal.

BSF troops of the Meghalaya Frontier seized logs, bamboo and coal from these rivers over the last two days.

"It appears that they want to take full advantage of the flooded rivers before water level goes down. These rivers are main routes for smuggling logs, coal and bamboo from India to Bangladesh," a BSF official said.

He added that in spite of "best efforts" by the BSF, smuggling attempts continue unabated through these rivers.

In the last two days he said, the BSF troops had seized 142.84 cubic feet of logs and 10 tons of coal while the items were being smuggled through the Simsang river in Baghmara, South Garo Hills district.

"Coal and wooden logs are concealed with bamboo rafts. The timber is tied up with sacks of coal. Though the heavily-flooded river poses a severe threat to the BSF troops, they jumped into the river to foil such illegal acts and seized the heavy rafts," the official said.

Similarly, he said, the BSF, in a joint operation with officials from the forest department, had recently seized more than 3,000 bamboos from the Chillai river in the Ryngku area of East Khasi Hills district.