BSF uses AI-enabled cameras to curb infiltration on India-B'desh border

The Border Security Force (BSF) officials on Sunday said that physical domination has been augmented with state-of-the-art surveillance technology, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled cameras and facial recognition tools along the India-Bangladesh border to prevent infiltration, crimes and other illegal activities.

BSF’s Tripura frontier Inspector General Patel Piyush Purushottam Das said that manpower has been beefed up in the sensitive border outposts and special operations have been launched to crack down on the network of touts and smugglers in the bordering areas.

“The BSF has a zero-tolerance policy against all such activities and field commanders have been briefed to launch intelligence-based operations to nab the touts,” the officer told the media.

Three days after Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha directed the BSF to step up its vigil along the India-Bangladesh border in the state to curb infiltration, the border guarding force on Sunday said that it has further tightened its security along the frontier.

The BSF IG said that gaps in border fencing are being plugged using improvised methods.

Additional teams are being deployed in in-depth areas and special focus is being given to joint operations with state police and other security agencies; the results of which are visible on the ground, he said.

In the current year, a seizure of contraband worth Rs 29 crore has been made and 198 Bangladeshi nationals and 12 Rohingyas apprehended, Das said, adding that narcotics and psychotropic drugs amounting to Rs 32 crore have been seized this year.

The IG said that in the recently concluded four-day IG BSF-Regional Commander Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) talks in Shillong from July 1, a dossier containing a list of Bangladeshi touts and criminals has been handed over to the BGB and they have assured to take action against them as per the law of land.

“Both the BSF-BGB agreed to identify vulnerable patches along the border and enhance the special coordinated patrols done jointly. A decision was also arrived at to share the telephone numbers at the field commander level to enable sharing of real-time information,” the IG said.

The Inspector General said that a multi-dimensional approach would ensure a safe and secure border in the state of Tripura.

After the rising infiltration from across the border, the Tripura Chief Minister during a high-level meeting on July 4 asked the top BSF and police officials to take appropriate measures to prevent infiltration, smuggling, illegal trade and border crimes.

Around 100 Bangladeshi nationals, including women and children, have been arrested from the Agartala railway station for their illegal entry while 25 Rohingyas, including six women and seven children, were arrested from two different places in North Tripura district in the past two months.

Before illegally entering Tripura (India), the Rohingyas fled from their camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, where more than one million displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar have been living since 2017.