A team of Birpara police station in Alipurduar district seized an illegal consignment of timber on Wednesday night from a truck and arrested the driver.

Police sources said the truck, loaded with around 600 cubic feet of sawn teak timber estimated to cost Rs 50 lakh, that was coming from Assam to Siliguri, was spotted on Asian Highway 48. As it reached Chowpathi (a prominent crossing) in Birpara, policemen intercepted the vehicle.

They frisked the truck then and found the timber. Sakur Khan, the driver, who hails from Haryana, failed to furnish any document to validate the transport of the timber.

“He was arrested and the truck was seized. On Thursday, we produced him in court in Alipurduar, which sent him to police custody for seven days. We suspect he is associated with a timber smuggling racket,” said Y. Raghuvamshi, the SP of Alipurduar.

‘Smuggler’ shot at

Yusuf Ahmed, a suspected smuggler and Bangladeshi resident, was shot at by personnel of the 159 battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF) on India-Bangladesh border in Malda district on Wednesday night.

Ahmed, a resident of Chapai-Nawabganj in Bangladesh, was allegedly trying to smuggle cattle to Bangladesh along with some others in Nangaldanga village area
under Habibpur block of Malda.

Reportedly, as the BSF men challenged them, they pelted stones. Then, the BSF opened fire. Ahmed, who was hit by a bullet in his left leg, was admitted to Malda Medical College and Hospital later. The others who were with him fled.

BSF troops of the 164 battalion in South Dinajpur district arrested Hafajul Sheikh of Mandapara village on Wednesday while he was allegedly trying to smuggle cattle to Bangladesh.

Troops posted across north Bengal frontier in an anti-smuggling drive on Wednesday night seized contraband, including cattle, worth Rs 3.5 lakh.