KOLKATA: After unearthing several infiltration tunnels at different sectors of the Indo-Pakistan international border, an 80-metre-long and four-feet-high tunnel has been discovered at the Indo-Bangladesh international border at Chopra in Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal on Wednesday.
BSF authorities have claimed that after complete fencing of Bangladesh border with West Bengal, the smugglers have taken to the underground route to avoid getting arrested or shot at. “Vigil has been tightened along the international border. Hence, the smugglers have taken to building this tunnel to smuggle labourers from Bangladesh to India and addictive cough syrups from India to Bangladesh. As alcohol is banned in the neighbouring country, cough syrup addiction is high which is smuggled from India,” a BSF PRO in North Bengal told New Indian Express.
Though several tunnels of smaller dimensions have been discovered along the western border, this is the first instance of such a long tunnel in the eastern border.
BSF has denied that the tunnel may have been used for cattle smuggling as well. “If the height of the tunnel was a bitter higher, we would have suspected that cattle may have been smuggled across the border but with height of only 4 feet, we doubt that full grown cattle have been smuggled. And, Indian calves are not in demand in Bangladesh,” the BSF PRO added.
He also denied speculations that the tunnel may have been used for weapons smuggling. Several illegal weapons factories have sprung up in several places along the West Bengal-Bangladesh international border.