KOLKATA/AGARTALA: Villages along the international border in West Bengal and Tripura have been witness to various illegal activities, with officers from Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) allegedly being a part of smuggling and trafficking circles.As reports of corruption among high-ranking paramilitary forces came to the limelight, TOI travelled to border villages to verify these claims.At a bus stand in North 24 Parganas' Bangaon city, a villager who helps people cross over to India said cross-border exchange rates are set by officers on both sides."Today, the rate was settled at Rs 1,000 per person by the BGB. But the BSF demanded Rs 500 more per head. Finally, they agreed at Rs 300. I have collected whatever extra these people had but still lost some money," he said, pointing to a group of men, women and children huddled around a fire.An estimated 1.7 lakh Bangladeshis are suspected to reside in West Bengal alone. This may be just the tip of the iceberg as several lakhs have spread to other states in the country. It was estimated that about 50 Bangladeshi nationals used to cross over into India every day before demonetisation. This figure has fallen slightly since.A trader from Nadia, who claimed to have bought supplies from BSF jawans, said, "Not a single item can cross the border without the BSF's permission, be it gold, silver, drugs, guns, fake currency or illegal migrants. Even we receive food that is diverted from BSF supplies on a regular basis. Some of this goes across the border. There are few fuel pumps along the border but it doesn't bother people much. They regularly buy petrol and diesel from the BSF. It is a racket," he said.Another menace that plagues the border villages is cattle smuggling. Till a few years ago, about 50,000-60,000 heads of cattle were smuggled across the border every day. Sources said the figures fell to 10,000-20,000 after the Modi government came to power. After demonetisation, on an average 2,000-3,000 heads of cattle are smuggled every day.Residents of 35 Tripura villages along the border claim their livlihood depends on illegal trade. The daily supply of fish, consumed in these villages, are sneaked in through check posts manned by BSF."For past many years the markets of Agartala are fed by Bangladeshi fish every day and the supply has been on the rise. Unless the BSF jawans are complicit how can we get fresh fish from Bangladesh every morning?" said Shahdeb Das, a fish trader.While fish, cloth, electronic items and even illegal firearms are smuggled into India, sources said narcotics are sent to Bangladesh on a regular basis right under the nose of BSF personnel.A senior BSF official rubbished the claims but added that they were still being investigated. "There were more than 20 skirmishes reported between the villagers and the security forces along the international border last year. We managed to seize contrabands worth more than Rs 10 crore being smuggled by Bangladeshis," he said.A senior BSF officer from the eastern sector admitted the prevalance of crimes along the border but denied the presence of institutionalised corruption. "This is a peculiar border. It is densely populated. People don't have livelihood means and they turn to smuggling. Even politicians ask us to go easy on them," he said.

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