Border Security Force seized 18 cattle-laden vehicles and rescued 86 cattle in Tripura on Saturday (May 27) night.
A BSF spokesman said that the BSF personnel of the 105-battalion acted swiftly on an intelligence input regarding the transportation of Myanmar breed cattle from Shiblong near the Tripura-Mizoram border from Assam by vehicles.
With the help of local villagers, BSF jawans seized 18 vehicles loaded with cattle at Shivbari near East Machalibazar under Dhalai District in Tripura.
During the search, BSF personnel recovered 86 cattle of the Burmese breed. A total of 30 persons – the drivers and their assistants – were detained and later handed over to the Police.
The BSF suspects that all the cattle, smuggled from Myanmar, were intended to be smuggled to Bangladesh through Tripura, which shares an 856 km border with Bangladesh.
Smuggling of livestock, especially Burmese cattle from Myanmar to Bangladesh is thriving using Tripura as a corridor. In earlier instances, several vehicles with livestock were found illegally transporting the cattle. In Jampui Hills, local volunteers also intercepted cattle-laden vehicles. In one instance, the people of Jampui Hill even submitted a deputation alleging a nexus between the Police and the cattle smuggler.
Despite repeated seizures and vigil, the smuggling is continuing. The vehicles enter Tripura from Myanmar via Mizoram. The illegal trade of cattle trafficking also puts State Police under scanner as during transportation, these vehicles pass through several Police stations without any problem.
One of the important issues is that security forces are detaining and arresting the drivers but the kingpins remain elusive – as a result, the smuggling continues, sources said.
“These drivers may reveal some information about the persons involved in the illegal trade of livestock trafficking – however, it is obvious that Police are not pursuing the investigation to get hold of the kingpins.
The Government needs to look into the matter seriously and ask the Police department to curb the livestock smuggling via Tripura”, a Machali-based resident said.