Joynal Abedin Khan :The smuggling of drug, cattle and arms has been increasing through the Bangladesh-India border points, Mohsin Reza, Public Relation Officer of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said on Saturday.Consignments of illegal trade rose in recent times through Benapole, Sharsha, Chowgachha in Jessore district, Debhata, Kaliganj, Kolaroa in Satkhira, Moheshpur in Jhenidah, Daulatpur in Kushtia, Hakimpur, Ghoraghat and Phulbari borders in Dinajpur district, he said.According to report of Home Ministry, banned drugs worth around Tk 400 crore have been destroyed, while 20 lakh cattle and huge Indian arms entered into the country illegally.Sources in the Police Headquarters said, the number of cases filed in connection with recovery of firearms and explosives rose sharply compared with two previous years. Nearly 1357 cases were filed under the Firearms Act in 2010, 1576 in 2013 and 1827 in 2014.Around 3,600 people were arrested across the country with illegal arms last year. Law enforcers also recovered nearly 5,500 firearms from different parts of the country while the number of recovered arms was 3,800 in 2013.India has been erecting barbed wire fence and putting up floodlights on the 4,096 km India-Bangladesh borders along West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram to check trans-border movement of irregularities, BGB sources said.They said: “CCTV (close circuit television) cameras are being installed at BOPs (border outposts) and biometric devices are being used for better management.”Bimal Pramanik, an independent researcher in Kolkata, said, Bangladesh has an insatiable demand for beef. “Bangladeshi slaughter houses cannot supply even one million cows from within the country. If Indian cows do not reach the Bangladeshi slaughter houses, there will be a big crisis there,” he said, adding that he estimates three-fourths of all cows slaughtered in Bangladesh originated in India. “We are really keen to import cows from India. We want all illegal activities involving the cow trade across the border to end,” Commerce Minister Tofayel Ahmed told the media a few days ago.Six districts namely Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Habra, Malda and Krishnanagar account for 90 per cent of cattle smuggling cases through the south Bengal frontier.Over 54 villages located at the ‘zero-point’ to be shifted away from the International Border (IB). These villages have 4,749 houses and a population of 30,074, sources said. On the other hand, smuggling of small firearms into Bangladesh, especially pistol and revolver, through three bordering districts has become rampant as the gunrunners have found the routes safe for their illicit trade in Chapainwababganj, Satkhira and Jessore districts.According to DMP sources, a total of 59 foreign-made pistols and 19 revolvers were recovered by police from different parts of the capital between January and April this year.Police, Rapid Action Battalion and Border Guard Bangladesh, sometimes nab gunrunners and their cohorts along with consignment of smuggled arms, the local kingpins of the arms smuggling chain remain out of touch as they have links with influential political leaders, said the DB official preferring anonymity.On April 20, plainclothes police recovered one revolver, two pistols and 14 bullets from different areas of city.Besides, BGB members from Putkhali camp recovered one 9mm pistol, one shutter gun and three 303 rifles from Chhoto Achra on March 11.According to sources, syndicates smuggle arms across the border taking advantage of low-income people, students, foreign deportees and unemployed youths used to smuggle.Jahangir Alam, Deputy Commissioner of the Detective Branch (DB) of Police said that they recently arrested an arms trader named Kazi Aminul Islam from the capital’s Fakirerpul area. Aminul also confessed, they usually sell the revolvers and pistols for Tk 40,000 to Tk 80,000 and earn around Tk 20,000 to Tk 25,000 for each.RAB Director General Benjir Ahmed told the reporters that the elite force have been trying to arrest the smugglers.
