No illegal crossings from Bangladesh after regime change in Dhaka; BGB cooperating: BSF chief – Times of India

Border Security Force (BSF) chief Daljit Singh Chaudhary (File photo)

JODHPUR: Border Security Force (BSF) chief Daljit Singh Chaudhary on Friday said the BSF has successfully managed to prevent any infiltration attempts from across Bangladesh after the sudden change in regime there, thanks to its alert troops and effective coordination with the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
“Whoever has crossed over after August 5(when the Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh was overthrown) only did so with a valid visa,” Chaudhary declared at a press conference here on the occasion of BSF’s 60th raising day. The DG said only 800 km of Indo-Bangladesh border is still unfenced, essentially on account of non-feasibility or riverine areas, but nevertheless secured with technical surveillance. On the western front too, very little part is unfenced, he added.
Only last year, home minister Amit Shah had, at the BSF Raising Day function in Hazaribagh, announced that the international border on both the eastern and western side would be completely fenced in two years.
Shah will be addressing this year’s BSF Raising Day event as well, here on Sunday.
At the press conference here on Friday, the BSF DG conceded that drone activity emanating from Pakistan continues to be a top concern, having increased by almost 2.5 times in the past one year.
Till Nov 30 this year, 257 drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were shot down or recovered by BSF, as compared to around 110 in entire 2023. On infiltration of terrorists into J&K, which has witnessed a surge this year, Chaudhary said infiltration figures are essentially estimates. “BSF is alert and we have tech support in place (to prevent infiltration and detect and bring down drones). The areas guarded by BSF are well-fortified,” he insisted.
The DG said BSF has also been mapping areas prone to infiltration as well as drone-dropping zones and had accordingly increased deployment of men and anti-drone systems there. “But the adversary also changes its routes when cornered, so we are constantly revising our strategy,” he said.
Talking about the impact of political turmoil in Bangladesh on the eastern border, Chaudhary said any infiltration attempts, despite the initial hiccups and crowd buildup at the border, were sorted and continue to be in check, thanks to the good working relationship between the BSF and BGB personnel on the ground.
Crediting the BSF’s “robust and impregnable border management”, Chaudhary said, narcotics seizures on the eastern border and western border have almost halved since last year.
Till October 31 this year, seizures on Indo-Bangladesh border had touched around 11866 kg (from 23,600 kg in 2023), arms seized at 14 and killing and apprehension of infiltrators and smugglers/traffickers at 22 and 4,168 respectively.
Interestingly, seizures of precious metals were recorded on the Indo-Bangladesh border this year; these included 173 kg of gold (valued at Rs 1300 crore) and 179 kg of silver.
On the western border, BSF had, till October 31 this year, seized 432 kg of narcotics (down from 895 kg), 77 arms and killed and apprehended 10 and 314 miscreants and smugglers respectively.