Ex-border security personnel caught smuggling drugs, car with BSF stickers seized
India Today
The seizure was made at a checkpost in Darjeeling district after officers acted on a tip-off about a suspicious vehicle entering West Bengal from Bihar on Sunday.
West Bengal Police seized over 3.3 kg of brown sugar worth several crores from a car bearing Border Security Force (BSF) stickers and arrested a former BSF personnel who allegedly used forged or misused credentials to evade checks.
The seizure was made at a checkpost in Darjeeling district after officers from the Bidhannagar Investigation Centre acted on a tip-off about a suspicious vehicle entering West Bengal from Bihar on Sunday.
According to police, the car drew attention because of prominent BSF markings and a modified number-plate assembly. A search revealed a concealed cavity behind the plate, from which multiple packets of brown sugar were recovered.
The driver, identified as Alok Kumar Ravikar of Katihar in Bihar, initially claimed he was a serving BSF inspector posted in Chhattisgarh and on medical leave, producing an identity card to back his assertion.
However, verification checks soon indicated he was a former BSF member with a criminal past.
Investigators said Ravikar had previously been arrested in March 2023 in Bihar’s Kishanganj district in an illegal liquor smuggling case, where he allegedly used BSF credentials to bypass security barriers.
According to local sources, he has been trying for nearly 12 years to free his land from alleged encroachment by a steel manufacturing company. Following information about the episode, the local Tehsildar, SDM, and police officials rushed to the spot.
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