The Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday seized 25 gold bars weighing 2.914 kg and worth around Rs 1.8 crore from a man who was roaming suspiciously near Madhupur border outpost in North 24-Parganas.

While frisking Ameer Mondal, 34, BSF personnel attached to battalion 68 found the gold bars strapped around his waistline.

A spokesperson for the BSF's south Bengal frontier in Calcutta said that acting on a tip-off given by the intelligence wing that a suspected linkman of the smuggling racket would arrive at a village near the Madhupur border outpost to hand over the cache to another linkman, the jawans laid a trap.

While surveilling the area, the jawans spotted Ameer roaming mysteriously. He was nabbed and taken to the border outpost, where during interrogation, he purportedly confessed that Ashadul Mondal of Chandpur village had given him the gold bars to hand over to Paresh, a linkman at Gadapota village of North 24-Parganas.

He also purportedly said Ashadul had assured him of Rs 3,000 for the task. Ameer and the seized gold bars were handed over to Customs authorities in Bongaon for further legal action.

On May 8, the BSF had seized gold bars worth Rs 4.24 crore from a Calcutta-bound bus coming from Dhaka at the Petrapole check post. Bus driver Mustafa and his helper, both Bangladeshi nationals, were nabbed.

On April 28, 27 gold bars weighing about 2.145 kg and worth Rs 1.30 crore were seized from a Bangladeshi woman when she entered India through the Petrapole check-post with a valid passport.

"We have succeeded again in stopping the smuggling of gold and other items," a senior BSF officer said.

To prevent the smuggling of gold, the BSF has introduced a dedicated WhatsApp number (9903472227) for villagers living along the Indo- Bangladesh border in south Bengal to share information.

“We have also announced rewards for sharing such information and the identity of informers would be kept confidential”, the BSF spokesperson in Calcutta said.