Unremitting vigil against contraband drug substance paved another success in Tripura. The border security force (BSF) has seized another big consignment of Phensedyl cough syrup before it could be smuggled to Bangladesh.
A squad of the intelligence wing of the BSF intercepted a lorry at Manu in Dhalai district and seized hundreds of Phensedyl bottles early this week. A BSF official said. “We have not disclosed this news before now for sake of investigation into the haul”, the official who demanded his name be withheld said on Wednesday.
The seized consignment of cough syrup is worth Rs 36 lakh in India, but would have fetched several times if sneaked into Bangladesh. Cough syrup has a huge demand in Bangladesh where it is taken as an alternative to alcohol.
Consumption of alcohol is banned in Muslim majority Bangladesh and thus the demand of alternative means like cough syrup is on the rise in the neighbouring country. Numerous smugglers of both sides of border are engaged in illegal trade of Phensedyl as it gives them huge income.
The BSF, Customs, DRI and state police often seize Phensedyl from different corners in the state, but its smuggling is rampant. “Unlike West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya, Tripura emerged as a main corridor of cough syrup smuggling to Bangladesh”, the BSF official stated.
The racketeers often take guise of normal medicine traders to avail Phensedyl from outside sources and sometimes it is hidden in boxes of other articles to evade capture. Law enforcers opined that even seizures at regular intervals not frustrating the smugglers because of huge profit involved.
They said one bottle of Phensedyl costs about Rs 90, but it is sold at Taka 600 or more in Bangladesh. They added that complete fencing of Tripura’s 856km boundary with Bangladesh would prevent smuggling menace.
Barbed wire fencing already completed along three fourth of international border in state and work has been slow in rest due to protests by local residents, geographical barriers or demarcation row with Bangladesh.
