Siliguri, March 16: The SSB’s 22nd Battalion will get two platoons of women constables by the end of this month. Each platoon will comprise 40 personnel.

“We have to keep round-the-clock vigil on the border because of its openness. Intercepting smugglers is one of our toughest jobs, as the criminals often use women as carriers for contraband items. Earlier, we did not have female units and had to face a lot of difficulties in catching the smugglers. But once our women wing joins us in the raids, it will be easier for us to conduct the search operation along the border,” said S.L. Sarkar, the commandant of the battalion, today.

The women constables will be deployed considering the region they belong to so that communicating with the local people in the respective areas will be easier for them, he said.

The force now has three frontier headquarters in Guwahati, Patna and Lucknow. The new recruits will be posted in different battalions under the three frontiers.

The SSB was formed in early sixties, but the recruitment process for a women’s wing had started only in 2007. “One battalion comprising 1,000 personnel was recruited and sent for a year-long training at the force’s training centre at Sapro in Himachal Pradesh,” a senior official of the battalion said.

The 22nd Battalion based in Ranidanga guards about 300km of the India-Nepal border stretching from Kishanganj in Bihar to Gangtok in Sikkim. The border guards prevent various contraband articles like foreign goods, narcotics, fake Indian currency, cattle and antiques from being smuggled.

Over the past one week, the SSB personnel have seized 20 quintals of betel nuts, 14 cattleheads and foreign goods — worth Rs 5.92 lakh. “During the raid, we have also apprehended eight persons,” Sarkar said.