Shillong: Apart from tracking infiltration, the Border Security Force has been preoccupied with chasing cattle along the Indo-Bangla frontier. Over 10,000 cattle estimated to be valued at over Rs 13 crore were seized by the BSF so far this year alone along the border in Assam and Meghalaya.
A worried Inspector-General of BSF's Assam and Meghalaya Frontier, P K Mishra, said smuggling of livestock to Bangladesh has turned into an industry with a huge demand for the animal in the neighbouring country.
"Cattle smuggling has become a disease and the transaction amount can go up to crores of rupees. But the irony is that the finished leather goods made of these cattle are exported to India," he said.
Mishra said the cattle are brought mostly from northern states like Haryana, Rajasthan, UP and Punjab. They are loaded in trucks which transport them to about three km from the international border from where they are distributed among local goons who smuggle them across the border.
Reports said every third cow in Bangladesh is smuggled in from India. Official estimates put the annual turnover from leather, meat and meat exports from smuggled Indian cattle in Bangladesh at over Rs 25 billion (more than half a billion US dollars).
