Smuggling of Phensedyl, narcotics, fake notes continues amid lockdown on Bengal-Bangladesh border

According to BSF officials, most of the smuggling along the India Bangladesh border takes place through the South Bengal Frontier.

April 06, 2020 04:41 pm | Updated 07:54 pm IST - Kolkata

BSF personnel guarding the border with Bangladesh. Special Arrangement

BSF personnel guarding the border with Bangladesh. Special Arrangement

Notwithstanding the lockdown and sealing of the international border along West Bengal and Bangladesh in response to the coroanvirus pandemic, miscreants across the India Bangladesh border are still actively smuggling Phensedyl, narcotics and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN).

On Friday, guards at the Border Security Force’s (BSF) Dayarampur outpost, who hitherto knew that narcotics could be found inside vehicles and clothes, had the new experience of seizing several bottles of Phensedyl hidden under cooked khichdi .

Several arrested

In the past two weeks, the South Bengal Frontier of the BSF has seized more than 6,000 units of Phensedyl, a cough syrup usually smuggled from India to Bangladesh, in at least ten cases. Half a dozen of people were arrested in these incidents. Apart from this, in the past two days alone, 1,850 units of Phensedyl were seized in two separate incidents.

On Saturday, the South Bengal Frontier also seized Fake Indian Currency notes (FICN) adding up to a face value of ₹2 lakh. The FICN was thrown over the border fence, allegedly from the Bangladesh side to the Indian side, in the border outpost area of Sukhdeopur in the State’s Malda district. Earlier, FICN of the face value ₹2 lakh was seized on March 31, 2020 at the same border outpost.

Vigilant as before

“Smugglers and miscreants are trying innovative means during this lockdown period. The fact that there has been no let down in our vigil in maintaining the sanctity of the international border is clear from the seizures we have carried out in the period of lockdown,” S. S. Guleria, Deputy Inspector General of South Bengal Frontier, told The Hindu .

Mr. Guleria said that while there have been no incidents of cattle smuggling of people trying to cross from one side of the border to the other, the forces have seized Yaba tablets and other narcotics during the lockdown. Along the border, integrated checkpoints that facilitate the movement of goods and people, have also been closed due to the lockdown.

Most porous

The South Bengal Frontier, whose jurisdiction extends from the Sunderbans in the south to the Malda district in the north, guards 912 km of the international border. About 35% of the India-Bangladesh border here is riverine, making it the most porous border along the whole eastern theatre. According to BSF officials, most of the smuggling along the India Bangladesh border takes place through the South Bengal Frontier.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.