276 cattle were being smuggled from India to Bangladesh. (File)
The Border Security Force or BSF has seized 276 cattle at the zero line of the Indo-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya during the past five days. However, no arrests could be made as the smugglers fled in jungles.
"The BSF has seized 276 cattle and contraband items worth more than Rs 49 lakh while being smuggled out of India to Bangladesh in the last five days," BSF said in a statement in Shillong.
The seizures were made Tuka, Nayabazar and Lyngkhat in East Khasi Hills district, at Gopinathkilla village in South West Garo Hills, at Ganganagar village in West Khasi Hills and Dumkaphal village in South Garo Hills.
The smugglers cut fencing wires or used unfenced areas to smuggle cattle, the statement said.
Many parts of the international border are still unfenced in Meghalaya.
In its coordination meeting with the Border Guards of Bangladesh, the BSF has identified and plugged almost all the vulnerable patches of the border by increasing troop strength and employing technical support, the statement said.