Kolkata, Sep 19 (IANS): The Border Security Force (BSF) arrested two Bangladeshi smugglers and recovered six heads of cattle from them along the riverine Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) in Harishchandrapur, Malda, West Bengal on Thursday.

The BSF jawans, who were part of a boat naka party, narrowly missed serious injury after being attacked by the smugglers with sharp-edged weapons. They had to fire three rounds (two were blanks) to scare away the attackers.

“The incident occurred along the unfenced riverine border. A jawan of the 88 Bn BSF, from the Harishchandrapur Border Outpost, who was part of a boat naka party, spotted 10-12 miscreants crossing the river towards Bangladesh with some heads of cattle,” said Nilotpal Kumar Pandey, DIG and spokesperson, South Bengal Frontier, BSF.

He said that on being challenged, the smugglers turned upon the jawan and attacked him with sharp weapons and sticks.

“The jawan, in an effort to defend himself, fired two blank rounds from his Insas rifle. The criminals were undeterred though and continued to attack the jawan. Finally, he was forced to fire a live round at them. The smugglers then fled towards Bangladesh. The boat naka party succeeded in nabbing one of the miscreants and recovering four heads of cattle. After dawn, a search led to the discovery of another smuggler hiding amidst the dense water hyacinth with two buffaloes. He was nabbed and taken to the Harishchandrapur BOP,” he said.

The BSF hasn't ruled out the possibility of a criminal being injured in the retaliatory firing by the trooper, who was performing his duty. The smugglers have been identified as Md Sanaur and Inamul, residents of Shitali, a border village under Nitpur police station in the Naugaon district of Bangladesh, he said

He added that during interrogation, they confessed that they were smuggling cattle from India and would have received Rs 20,000 had they succeeded in their effort.

While the smugglers have been handed over to the police by the BSF, the cattle heads will be sent to the Dhyan Foundation after e-tagging.

Pandey commended the efforts by the BSF jawans and said that strict action is being taken to prevent smuggling along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

"Due to this, people involved in such crimes have to face a lot of problems. But, no smuggling activity will be allowed under our area of operations under any circumstances," he said.