NEW DELHI: Amid ongoing political turmoil in Bangladesh, the Border Security Force (BSF) has not only intensified 24x7 forward patrolling but is also using the latest technology, like hand-held thermal imaging systems along with trained dogs, to prevent infiltration from the neighbouring country, officials said on Sunday.
They said that the latest tech support to nab intruders is now with BSF’s 102 Battalion, which guards borders in West Bengal’s Basirhat, where a little less than half of the 33-kilometre border is fenced.
The border guarding force now has hand-held thermal imaging cameras to ensure no infiltration takes place even in the night time, when the visibility is very less, the officials said, adding that the camera systems allow ground troops to detect differences in temperature between “inanimate objects and enemy forces”.
These devices collect infrared radiation in the camera’s field of vision and use it to create an image, as they said the cameras “are especially useful during heavy fog as well as for night patrolling”.
Apart from the cameras, night-vision devices are also being used by the force to keep vigil at the borders with Bangladesh, the officials said.
“As one walks beside the partially fenced border, one can see a special net that has been attached to it. The net - placed across the fenced area - ensures that no one can throw anything from the other side of the border,” a senior officer said.
Not only jawans but patrolling dogs too play their part in keeping vigil, as Max, a 21-month-old German Malinois, who has a master handler, alerts jawans about suspicious activity from across the border, the officials said, adding that the canine had thwarted several cross-border smuggling and infiltration bids.
“Another step taken by the BSF is to start biometric authentication in the land patches outside the fenced area. Villagers who wish to go to their land for farming now need to provide their biometric details, which are matched with records before allowing them to pass through, which have been in practice along the fenced borders with Pakistan for long,” the officer said.