BSF jawans nabbed a civic police volunteer from Kaijuri in North 24-Parganas on Thursday for allegedly smuggling gold into Bangladesh.
The Border Security Force seized around 1kg (998 grams) of gold from the accused civic police volunteer, Mofijur Rehman, 32, who is attached to Swarupnagar police station in North 24-Parganas.
A BSF spokesperson for south Bengal frontier in Calcutta put the approximate market value of the seized gold at around Rs 47.10 lakh.
Mofijur, a resident of Chithuri-Balti village in Swarupnagar, was handed over to customs authorities at Tentulia and later to police who registered his arrest and began a probe.
BSF sources said after receiving a tip-off from the intelligence wing of the border force, a surveillance team of the 153 battalion intercepted Mofijur as he was approaching the Bangladesh border near Kaijuri riding a motorcycle.
“During frisking, our personnel found a solid piece of gold in a pocket of his trouser. During the preliminary interrogation, he revealed his identity and confessed that he was scheduled to hand over the gold to a person in Basirhat,” a BSF spokesperson said.
In another development, the BSF handed over two minor boys to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) authorities. The two boys had allegedly sneaked into the Indian territory to collect wheat bran.
The BSF authorities said the boys, both aged 12 and residents of Damarhuda in Bangladesh, had been engaged by a person to collect the wheat bran but were caught by a surveillance team of the force at Rangiapota in Nadia’s Chapra on Wednesday afternoon.
“We were approached by the BGB authorities after their parents appealed for help. We considered their request and handed over the two minor boys to them but at the same time, insisted that they take action against the persons who had engaged the boys to collect wheat bran sneaking into the Indian territory,” a BSF spokesperson added.