The Central Bureau of Investigation has carried out multiple raids in West Bengal in a bid to unearth the nexus involved in the rampant illegal cattle trade that is happening along the India-Bangladesh border.
According to a senior CBI official, searches were carried out in at multiple locations in Kolkata and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal since this morning.
“Raids are still underway. The search operations are not just limited to West Bengal alone. They are also being conducted in other parts of the country to unearth the the nexus of illegal cattle trade along the Indo-Bangladesh border. We cannot divulge any more details as of now,” an official quoted by PTI said.
As per a report published by Times Now, CBI has booked one Satish Kumar, the former Commandant of the 36 BSF Battalion, along with three others— Inamul Haq, Anarul Sheikh and Mohammed Golam Mustafa—in the illegal cattle trade case. Besides Kolkata and Murshidabad, the premier agency had also launched search operations at various locations on Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, Amritsar in Punjab and Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
India-Bangladesh border troubled with the menace of cattle smuggling
India-Bangladesh border is afflicted with the menace of illegal cattle smuggling for the past several years. As security agencies have tightened the noose around illegal cattle trade, smugglers have employed novel methods to evade authorities and successfully transport cattle across the border.
In June this year, BSF exposed a cruel method of smuggling adopted by cow smugglers along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal after they retrieved a live calf tied up and hidden inside a carcass floating in the river.
As per the sources, the smugglers tie socket bombs to the necks of the cattle while smuggling them to cause physical harm to the forces when they are caught.
