(Lead)

Kolkata, April 18 (IANS) Three people, including a Bangladeshi national, died when Border Security Force (BSF) personnel opened fire while they were allegedly smuggling cattle through the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal’s Dinhata area, the police said here. The firing took place Thursday night near the border area of Dinhata sub-division in Cooch Behar district, about 700 km from here.

“Three people, who were smuggling cattle through the Indo-Bangladesh border at Changrabanda, were killed in BSF firing,” West Bengal Inspector General (North Bengal) R.J.S. Nawla told IANS.

He said the BSF personnel opened fire when the smugglers tried to escape.

BSF Director General A.K. Mitra said the identities of the three are yet to be ascertained.

“Some gadgets to cut the barbed wires were also recovered from the spot,” he said.

According to BSF sources, about 200,000 cattle head are smuggled out to Bangladesh every year from India.

“We recovered about 113,000 cattle head last year while they were being smuggled. These cattle head are generally brought from north Indian states like Haryana and Punjab,” Mitra said.

India shares a 4,095 km-long border with Bangladesh, including the longest in West Bengal at 2,216-km, part of which is porous, riverine and unfenced, and prone to frequent infiltration and skirmishes.