Revealed: Border bridge for smuggling

NARAHARIPUR (BONGAON): As TOI reached the fringes of Naraharipur, the border village where a 15-year-old was shot in the chest on Wednesday for standing up to smugglers, two boys, both hardly in their teens, zipped in on a motorbike and blocked our car. The bike had neither number plates nor a headlight. The TOI car was allowed to pass only after they were satisfied with responses to a barrage of queries, but they hung around aggressively when the TOI team met the victim's family.
"That is a stolen bike and it will be in Bangladesh by tonight or tomorrow. While they are here, these children get to ride them in return for information. The smugglers will soon be aware of your visit," said Dinabandhu Biswas. "Many other things cross the border here. My son had to pay the price for protesting against organized crime." His son Nirmal, alias Amitesh Biswas, was shifted from Bongaon Hospital to RG Kar Hospital on Thursday night.
Police continue to deny the involvement of any smuggling cartel in the incident, but the villagers are sure that the shooting was a fallout of Amitesh's opposition to their activities "My son wants this village to be free of crime while some people want to use it for their shady activities," said Amitesh's mother Shanti.
Naraharipur, along with Petrapole, Khalidpur, Jayantipur, Firozpur and Kaliani, is a cluster of villages, a stone's throw from the border. Narrow paths lead to Jamtala from where the border is just 100 metres away. Lanes and bylanes through the thicket and winding past ponds can take you there unseen. The BSF is hard-pressed to keep tabs on these secret pathways.
Villagers tell you that bikes are in high demand across the border because of the motor, which is fitted to a boat. The ?bhutbhuti', which earns its name from the sound of its motor, is one of the commonest modes of transportation in Bangladesh. They also tell you about the innovative manner in which the bikes are taken.
"There is a narrow canal in Kaliani village bang on the border. A temporary floating bridge is built by piling up jute plants in the water to form a long raft," says a villager who asked not to be named. "A small boy drives the bike to the other side and comes back swimming. All this is done in the dark and the boys are specially trained for this," he adds.
"At other places, the fence is cut just enough to let a little boy slip through. This is how they dodge BSF," said Jayanta Biswas, the gram panchayat pradhan of Choighoria.
"Teenagers and women are extensively used in smuggling. They are given bags with vegetables or ladies' garments and told to deliver them to a particular person. Many don't even know that they are being used as carriers, that the bags contain drugs, Phensedyl or even firearms," said Somnath Parui of Khalidpur. According to villagers, drugs, Phensedyl and sugar are usually sent to Bangladesh while fake Indian currency and gold are smuggled in. "Huge amounts of fake currency notes are hidden in bundles of jute," a Choighoria panchayat member added.
Police say they have arrested Tapas Biswas and Mongal for the shooting. "We are looking for the others involved in the crime," an investigating officer said, adding: "Perhaps they were looking at the gun when it went off, injuring Amitesh. He, however, failed to throw light on how and from where these young boys could have acquired the weapon from.