Criminals allegedly backed by locals on Saturday ransacked a BSF outpost in North 24-Parganas and attacked attendant jawans in a bid to get a narcotic smuggler released after the latter was caught with 43kg of cannabis and 374 bottles of cough syrup.

A woman BSF jawan and three of her male colleagues attached to the 68 Battalion were injured. The condition of one of them is reportedly serious.

A BSF spokesperson said that the seriously injured jawan had been shifted to a Calcutta hospital.

The incident occurred in Mamabhagina village located on the India-Bangladesh border on Friday night.

BSF sources at the Calcutta-based South Bengal Frontier said that on Friday night a unit conducted a raid at Mamabhagina village after being informed that smugglers had stocked a huge cache of cannabis and Phensedyl cough syrup to smuggle them into Bangladesh.

The BSF team raided the houses after informing the police and seized 43kg of cannabis and bottles of cough syrup and arrested Alamgir Mandal, a smuggler on the NCB’s most-wanted list.

Sources said while the BSF team was heading towards the outpost with Mandal, his accomplices with the support of some villagers attacked the jawans.

“A mob suddenly attacked our jawans to get Alamgir released. They attacked us with sticks and hurled stones. Four of our personnel were injured,” said a BSF official.

The altercation resumed when the assailants allegedly attacked the outpost, vandalised the office and control room and damaged computers, recorders, CCTVs and other property.

“Some accomplices of the nabbed smuggler in a desperate bid attacked the outpost and our control room. An additional contingent of the BSF and a team of Bagdah police arrived fast, but the goons escaped,” the official added.

Arrested smuggler Mandal will be handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau along with the seized cannabis, the BSF has stated in a release.

The DIG of the BSF’sKrishnagar-sector, Sanjay Kumar, said: “It was a desperate attack by smugglers who suffered a setback following continuous action by us. The attack was carried out as revenge. Our intelligence team is trying to find out the accomplices of the smuggler and they will be apprehended soon.”