A cattle smuggler was shot dead on Saturday by Border Security Force (BSF) troops near the Indo-Bangla international border in Tripura's Sepahijala district.

Souvik Dev,Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Sonamura said that one Sharif Miah alias Tuhinwho belongs from Putia village in Kamthana area of Sonamura was challengedwhile smuggling cattle into the neigbouring country by BSF personnel of 74Battalion deployed along India-Bangladesh border in the area.

Dev furtherinformed that a group of people breached Indo-Bangla fence in the early hoursof Saturday morning to smuggle cattle when a BSF constable, Vijay Kumar challengedthem. But the smugglers attacked him with sharp weapons after which thepersonnel shot them in the legs with a non-lethal weapon. The victim wasstooping low, got hit in the chest and died.

It was laterinformed by a senior BSF officer from Tripura frontier that their personnelopened fire from a non-lethal pump action gun to incapacitate the smugglerssince they had mounted an attack on him.