Mob brutally attacks BSF jawans in Tripura’s Bangladesh border belt, spotlight on cattle and drug trafficking

Three BSF personnel were badly injured when a mob assaulted them, snatched away a jawan’s service rifle and vandalised their vehicle at Ashabari in Tripura’s Sepahijala district on November 2, following the detention of suspected smuggler Hefzur Rahman.

According to local reports, personnel of the 49th Battalion pursued suspected smugglers near border-fence gates 174 and 175 in the Ashabari Border Out Post (BOP) area. Rahman was detained and subsequently treated for a leg injury at Boxanagar hospital. A crowd blocked the Boxanagar–Rahimpur road and brutally attacked three BSF personnel approaching the blockade. Reinforcements later restored control.

As per local media sources speaking to WION, Hefzur Rahman is allegedly involved in both cattle smuggling and drug trafficking in the border adjacent regions.

The Ashabari assault has precedents. In October 2017, BSF officer Deepak Kumar Mandal of the 145th Battalion died after being struck by a vehicle allegedly used by cattle smugglers near Sonamura.

In August 2021, lawyer Shreya Aggarwal was assaulted and her vehicle was vandalised at Routhkhola in Bishalgarh after she reported overloaded cattle vehicles to the police.

More recently, in November 2025, two BSF personnel were injured in a confrontation with suspected cattle smugglers in Bishalgarh, where Bishalgarh police registered a case against the miscreants.

Sepahijala directly borders Bangladesh, placing settlements such as Ashabari along the international boundary.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha has described the district as sharing more than 100 kilometres of border with Bangladesh. Its geography provides the backdrop to a longstanding challenge involving cattle theft, illicit transportation and suspected cross-border trafficking.

The record stretches back years. Madhupur police confirmed receiving a cattle-theft FIR from the Dhyan Foundation shelter in Devipur which houses over 2100 bovines rescued at the borders by BSF jawans. Court records document separate proceedings involving cattle trafficking at Madhupur, Sonamura and Melaghar, including transportation cruelty.

A September 2026 report quoting the Sepahijala district SP recorded seizures of 269 cattle, 5660 Methamphetamine tablets, 1,790.2 kilograms of ganja, brown sugar and 289 bottles of Eskuf cough syrup in the year till September.

In its April 27, 2026 judgment, the Tripura High Court discussed the continuing cattle smuggling into Bangladesh statewide. The court addressed the persistent challenges of unauthorized cattle smuggling across the Tripura-Bangladesh border, highlighting that rescue efforts remain an ongoing challenge. The court said, “It is unfortunate that despite efforts put in by the State or its agencies, the protection and rescue is not coming to end.”

Local sources told WION that cattle and drug trafficking remain widespread in the region, generating unaccounted cash despite authorities’ awareness. Fearing for their safety, the sources request for anonymity.

The security implications are direct, criminal profits sustain trafficking networks, while violence against BSF patrols with attempts to seize weapons threaten personnel and undermine border enforcement.