In a force-ful confrontation at the India-Bangladesh frontier, a patrol of the Border Security Force (BSF) was assaulted by a group of suspected cattle smugglers in Sepahijala district, Tripura. Five of the agency’s personnel sustained injuries and one of their vehicles was vandalised after a chase led to a heated melee near the cattle market on the Bishalgarh-Kamthana Road.
According to the officer-in-charge of Bishalgarh police station, Bikash Das, the incident unfolded on Friday evening when the BSF team deployed at the Kamthana border outpost signalled a vehicle to stop. “The BSF personnel deployed at Kamthana border outpost signalled a vehicle to stop, but it fled towards a local cattle market,” Das said.
The patrol followed the vehicle into the market where “a war of words broke out between the cattle smugglers and the BSF personnel, which escalated, leading to the attack. Five personnel were injured and their vehicle was vandalised,” he added.
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A complaint has been lodged and efforts are underway to identify and arrest the attackers, according to police. In a video circulating on social media, a senior BSF officer was heard voicing frustration at the lack of bystander intervention during the assault: “no bystanders tried to intervene when the attack was underway.”
This episode highlights a persistent and escalating security challenge along India’s eastern frontier. Smuggling of cattle across the India-Bangladesh border remains a long-standing problem,“an age-old problem, few solutions in sight,” as one report described the trade in the region.
October 2017, an officer of the BSF was critically injured during a similar encounter in Sipahijala district when a vehicle used by suspected smugglers struck his patrol party.
The porous terrain of Tripura, the stretched-out border length and partial fencing complicate enforcement efforts.
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