GUWAHATI, Sept 10 - Closed crime files of high-profile cattle smugglers operating on the Indo-Bangla border would be revisited by Assam Police�s newly constituted high-power task force led by Special Director General of Police (Border) to get to the deep-rooted trans-border nexus.
Immediately after its formation, the task force led by Special DG (Border) RM Singh has also vouched for a special legislation in the State in the line of one in Maharashtra to control large-scale transportation of cattle.
In fact, Special DG (Border) has today written to the Assam Police chief Mukesh Sahay asking the latter to take up the issue of bringing special legislation with the authorities concerned.
�The law experts may study the existing laws in States like Maharashtra and recommend enacting of similar statute to our lawmakers to contain cattle smuggling,� the Special DG (Border) told this correspondent, adding, �The task force will work in close coordination with the Border Security Force (BSF) patrolling the porous border�.
This is for the time that a police official of the rank of Director General of Police has been entrusted with the job of leading a task force to check the cattle smuggling activities on the Indo-Bangla border.
Official sources informed that cattle worth more than Rs 27 crore were seized while 101 cattle smugglers were apprehended in the first seven months of 2016, which included 19 Bangladeshi nationals.
Compared to 2016 (up to July), the year 2015 had recorded seizure worth over Rs 28 crore and the number of arrests made were 187, including 37 Bangladeshis.
As per the new initiative, both the Assam Police and the BSF will work extensively on intelligence sharing and also try to take the Border Guards Bangladesh, into confidence.
The Special DG also held discussion with top BSF officials, who assured to work in tandem with the task force.
�Riverine border will be our prime focus. We have the bordering districts to revisit the old cases, which would help us get to the deep nexus involving elements from various Indian States and Bangladesh,� he pointed out.
Singh said that the task force aims to study all the loopholes and then try to destabilise the modus operandi of the cattle smugglers.
�The stakes are high and multifaceted ramifications are there. The task force would act in a coordinated manner against all the parties involved in the smuggling channel,� Singh asserted.
The Central Government, it needs mention, had roped in nine States � which are hub of cattle smuggling � to draw a comprehensive roadmap to deal with smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh.
The States include Assam, Tripura, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madya Pradesh and Karnataka.