Kolkata, Nov 26 : The Border Security Force (BSF) apprehended a Bangladeshi national with four gold biscuits, valued at Rs 36.56 lakh, during routine frisking at ICP Petrapole in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district on Tuesday.

In another operation in the same district, the BSF claims to have seized eight Air rifles and an air pistol that were allegedly being smuggled to Bangladesh. A large number of pellets and the barrel of an air rifle were also seized.

N K Pandey, DIG and spokesperson, South Bengal Frontier, BSF said that the troops of the 145 Bn BSF were on duty at ICP Petrapole.

'Around 7 am on Tuesday, as they were frisking people entering India from Bangladesh, a hand-held metal detector beeped when taken close to a man's body. However, nothing was found on him. The troops then took him to an enclosed area and carried out a thorough search. The four gold biscuits were hidden inside his rectum. The man was immediately taken into custody,' he said.

He added that during interrogation, the man admitted that he is a farmer, but took to smuggling for added financial gains.

'He confessed that he had stuffed the gold biscuits into his rectum at a toilet in Tanti Bazar in Dhaka. He claimed that he was to hand them over to an unknown person at Burrabazar in Kolkata, for which he would receive Rs 40,000. The smuggler and the gold have been handed over to the Customs department in Petrapole for further legal processing,' said DIG Pandey.

He said that the second incident occurred under the jurisdiction of the Boltala Border Outpost, adding that the troops of the 118 Bn BSF were patrolling the border when they came upon the consignment of Air rifles, pistol, barrel and nine packets of pellets.

'It is clear that smugglers were out to send them over to Bangladesh when they spotted the patrol party and fled. These have been handed over to the Hingalganj police station, so they may carry out further investigation regarding their origin,' the DIG said.

While appreciating the efforts of the troops in thwarting smuggling across the Indo-Bangladesh Border, the DIG repeated his appeal to the border population to report any information related to gold smuggling through the BSF's Seema Sathi Helpline 14419 or send voice or text messages to the WhatsApp number 9903472227.

'He assured that the informers will be rewarded and their identity kept confidential,' he said.

/IANS