Guwahati, Aug. 7: The leather industry and beef processing units in neighbouring Bangladesh are encouraging smuggling of Indian cattle through the porous Indo-Bangladesh borders, including the stretch of international border in Dhubri district.

The Union home ministry has said the leather and tannery industries and processed beef units in Bangladesh were mostly dependent on smuggled Indian cattle. Export of the items produced by these units to West Asian countries led to further encouragement of cross-border smuggling.