More CCTV cameras along border: Farooqui

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 4

The Border Security Force (BSF) will install more CCTV cameras at vulnerable sites along the India-Pakistan border to check drug trafficking. Besides, it will raise a fence replacing the old one which is worn out.

The BSF had already installed CCTV cameras at the Mahawa border village. “We will install more cameras along the border, including the riverine belt, which is being used by peddlers to smuggle narcotics. We will have 10 more cameras by March-end,” said MF Farooqui, DIG , Amritsar Sector.

Addressing the media here today, the DIG gave details of the Rs 50-crore worth heroin seizure yesterday. The contraband, was hidden in bushes near the Tota border outpost across the Ravi.

“Prior to the seizure, Pakistani Rangers sought a flag meeting. By the time our official reached there, the Rangers had returned to their side. Later during search operations, the jawans discovered the contraband. Pakistan-based smugglers had obviously concealed the heroin in cinnivance with their accomplices in India,” he said. He claimed this clearly showed that the smugglers had been forced to change their strategy because of strict measures by the BSF. He said the smugglers were trying to use the riverine belt to slip in the contraband. “We have pushed Pak smugglers to the wall. They are were desperately trying to devise new ways to smuggle drugs,” he said.

“It is not easy to retrieve any consignment from the riverine belt in the Amritsar Sector. A smuggler would have to cover the forest as well as the river area to reach the place,” Farooqui said.