A BSF team patrolling the India-Bangladesh border in Bithari of North 24-Parganas’ Swarupnagar on Wednesday seized 45.9kg of silver ornaments being smuggled into Bangladesh.

BSF officers said the market value of the seized ornaments was around Rs 23.06 lakh. The BSF team, attached to 112 Battalion, nabbed the tricycle-van peddler allegedly carrying the silver inside the frame of its wooden carrier. The accused, Suban Dalal, 31, is from Hakimpur-Uttarpara village of Swarupnagar.

He handed over to Customs authorities along with the seized ornaments for further legal action.

A BSF spokesperson from the South Bengal Frontier said that the team had been acting on a tip-off by its intelligence wing and had intercepted the tricycle van as it was approaching the border fencing in Bithari village around dawn on Wednesday.

Narayan Chand, commanding officer of 112 Battalion, said: “Our personnel became suspicious after observing the movement of the tricycle van. They halted it and began checking the van when they noticed a hollow channel inside the frame of the wooden carrier. They unscrewed it and found the silver ornaments, which were hidden in 47 packets and wrapped in brown paper."

BSF sources said that during their interrogations, the accused confessed that he had received the packets from one Hamal Seikh of Bithari, and had been instructed to hand over the same to Bablu Mollah, a smuggling racket operator who would send the items on to Bangladesh.

“He confessed to having received Rs. 5,000 to operate as the carrier (of the silver),” a BSF spokesperson said.