West Bengal: BSF Jawans Rescue Cows Rigged With Explosives Near Bangladesh Border

In a perturbing discovery close to the border with Bangladesh in West Bengal, Border Security Force (BSF) jawans found several cows which had improvised explosive devices (IED) planted on them by smugglers, reports India Today.

The cattle were recovered at the river close to the Harudanga border. The smugglers had left them with aluminium canisters around their necks, placing crude forms of improvised explosive devices inside them.

"We are studying the type of IED prepared by the smugglers that is aimed to scare BSF troops from intercepting cattle smuggling incidents. A total of 365 cattle being smuggled across the border to Bangladesh have been recovered since Wednesday," said an official from BSF.

The is the first time ever that troops have had to face the threat of being bombed by cattle smugglers, although there was once a previous incident in which a bomb exploded close to soldiers after being hurled by narcotics smugglers at them.

Cattle smugglers have recently become increasingly desperate to smuggle cows from
West Bengal into Bangladesh as prices are much higher due to the upcoming festival of Bakr-Eid.