Under attack, BSF jawan guns down B’desh smuggler in Nadia
Times of India | 1 December 2025
Kaliganj (Nadia): A BSF jawan shot dead a Bangladeshi smuggler near the Matiyari border outpost in Nadia district early on Saturday after troops came under attack from a gang of smugglers while trying to thwart their smuggling attempt.
BSF said its personnel acted in self-defence.
According to BSF officials, around 3.55 am on Nov 29, jawans spotted 6-7 smugglers on the Indian side near the border fence throwing plastic-wrapped consignments to their Bangladeshi counterparts on the other side. The troops issued multiple warnings and fired a round of blanks, but the smugglers continued their operation.
When the jawans advanced, they saw that the Bangladeshi group was carrying sharp weapons. Apprehensive of an attack, one BSF jawan replaced his blank magazine with live ammunition. This triggered an aggressive reaction from the smugglers, who charged at the troops.
One of them struck the jawan with a ‘dah' (a sharp-edged farming instrument), hitting the foregrip of the jawan's rifle. In the ensuing chaos, the trigger was pushed unintentionally, and a live round fatally hit one of the Bangladeshi smugglers, BSF said, adding that the bullet wasn't aimed at the individual.
Upon hearing the gunshot and seeing their associate collapse, the smugglers at first tried to drag their injured associate around 60 metres, but then abandoned him and fled. The injured smuggler was rushed to Krishnaganj Hospital, where he was declared dead.
A subsequent search operation in the area led to the recovery of a cutter, four sharp weapons, 96 bottles of Phensedyl cough syrup and two bottles of foreign liquor from the spot. The body and the seized contraband were handed over to Krishnaganj Police.
A spokesperson for the BSF South Bengal Frontier said troops have been performing their duties with "alertness and courage" amid increasing instances of attacks by Bangladeshi smugglers. BSF has repeatedly raised the issue of cross-border assaults with the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), but officials claimed that inadequate action on the opposite side has emboldened smuggling networks.