A BSF constable was seriously injured on the head and his colleague on his right shoulder by sharp-edged weapons when a group of alleged cough syrup smugglers attacked them near a border outpost in Nadia late on Wednesday night.

The BSF team attached to battalion 54 arrested one of the armed smugglers, who is an Indian national, while at least eight others managed to flee at the Matiary border outpost in Nadia’s Krishnaganj. The BSF team seized 504 bottles of the contraband cough syrup valued at Rs 1.03 lakh, which has a high demand in Bangladesh as a drug.

The alleged smuggler Jahangir Mondal and the seized cough syrup bottles were handed over to Krishnaganj police station. The police have started a case on the basis of a complaint lodged by the BSF.The two injured BSF constables, Ramcharan Chowdhury and Manjit Kumar, have been admitted to Krishnaganj block hospital.

The arrested Jahangir, who also suffered injuries from his sharp-edged weapon during the scuffle with the BSF, has been admitted to a local hospital.BSF sources said constable Chowdhury despite grievously injured on the head, had nabbed one of the attackers and held on to him.Constable Kumar, trying to resist the smugglers, was attacked with a sharp weapon.

“He was injured on his right shoulder.… It was an attack on his life but he managed to save himself at the last moment,” said a BSF officer.BSF sources said that following an intelligence input, the team raided the area where the smugglers had gathered near Matiary border outpost.

“We had come to know that notorious smuggler Milan Mondal would lead a gang to smuggle huge quantities of Phensedyl to Bangladesh,” a BSF officer of the 54 battalion said.

“Around 9pm, we noticed movements of suspected smugglers close to the border fence. We challenged them. But they began pelting stones. Our jawans gheraoed them. The smugglers, around nine, attacked our jawans with sharp-edged weapons. Our jawans showed patience in handling the situation but eventually a jawan fired pellets from a non-lethal gun to rescue his colleagues.'A spokesperson for the BSF's South Bengal Frontier in Calcutta said, “Smugglers had the motive to kill our jawans. But our jawans came out strong despite injuries and prevented the smuggling attempt.”