BSF commandant taking bribes from smugglers arrested

New Delhi, Jan 31 : The CBI has arrested a BSF commandant in Kerala’s Alappuzha with Rs 45 lakh in cash allegedly collected from smugglers on the India-Bangladesh border, an official said on Wednesday.

Jibu D. Mathew, in charge of Border Security Force’s (BSF) 83rd Battalion at the south Bengal frontier, was arrested on a tip-off just after he got off the Shalimar Express train at Alappuzha.

Mathew regularly took bribes from smugglers for facilitating their illegal activities across the border, said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official.

The 4,096 km India-Bangladesh border manned by BSF sees large-scale smuggling of cattle, drugs, and counterfeit Indian currency notes as well as human trafficking.

IANS