With about 12 days to go before Eid-ul-Azha, more Indian cattle arrived in Bangladesh yesterday through various border points in at least four districts.

Every day, hundreds of cows and buffaloes are brought to cattle sheds from where they will be sent to different places of the country.

The sheds remained almost empty after India had stepped up security on its borders a few months back.

Talking to many Bangladeshi and Indian cattle traders, our correspondents in Lalmonirhat, Benapole, Nilphamari and Chapainawabganj yesterday reported that a large number of Indian cattle were waiting on the other side to be brought inside Bangladesh.

There was a good supply of Indian cattle in the local markets of Lalmonirhat.

At Durakuti cattle market in Lalmonirhat Sadar, Mohsin Ali said he along with four others had brought 50 cattle from the neighbouring country on Friday night.

Shamsul Islam, another trader who had travelled from the capital, said the cattle supply there was not satisfactory a week ago.

“But today, there is a huge number of Indian cattle in the market,” he said. He bought 70 animals there for selling them in Dhaka.

Trader Rashidul Islam claimed, “Over 10 thousand Indian cattle arrived in Lalmonirhat on Friday night,”

A local Border Guard Bangladesh official, wishing not to be named, claimed the cattle kept coming in as “the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) had relaxed vigilance on the border.”

In Shibganj upazila of Chapainawabganj, duties for some 250 cattle were paid in the past few days.

However, the actual number of Indian cattle there would be much higher, reports our correspondent, quoting locals.

Mohammad Mokhles, a trader from India's Murshidabad, claimed more cattle would arrive in Bangladesh in the next few days.

Around a thousand cows and buffaloes had recently entered Jessore through four border points -- Daulatpur, Agrobhulot, Oga and Rudrapur, reports our Benapole correspondent.

However in Nilphamari, the supply of Indian cows was very thin due to the BSF monitoring on the borders, adds our correspondent, quoting local traders.