BSF rescues alpaca smuggled across India-Bangladesh border into Bengal

KOLKATA: The Border Security Force (BSF) on Wednesday rescued an alpaca being smuggled into West Bengal’s Nadia district from Bangladesh, a senior BSF official said.
The smugglers on both sides of the border fence, however, managed to flee, leaving the animal behind.
The official said the alpaca, a woolly native of South America, was handed over to the state forest department.
“The incident took place around 2:20am. BSF personnel noticed some suspicious activities near the border fence. They saw three Bangladeshis using a bamboo ladder to transfer the alpaca over the fence, while their four accomplices waited on the Indian side to receive the animal,” said NK Pandey, deputy inspector general (DIG) (South Bengal Frontier).

BSF personnel rushed to the spot and fired a blank round to deter the smugglers. The smugglers fled abandoning the ladder and the alpaca.
Alpacas are the smallest of domesticated camelid species with slender bodies, weighing around 50 – 90 kg. Their wool is both silky soft and strong.
West Bengal shares a 2,216 km border with Bangladesh – the longest stretch of international border shared by any state in India with a neighbouring country. Apart from intercepting people trying to get into the country, the BSF frequently seizes gold, drugs, fake currency, and sometimes wildlife.
In September this year, the border guarding force seized four Chinese Golden Phesants in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas, In August a man was caught wit a dead monkey and a dead bear cub.