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NOAKHALI, Aug 4 (BDNEWS): Fertiliser smuggling to Myanmar through Companyganj Upazila has increased alarmingly.
Smuggling generally takes place through the southern Bamni and Chhoto Feni river routes of this district. Smuggled goods go to Myanmar through the Bay of Bengal. In exchange for fertiliser, drugs come to Bangladesh from Myanmar.
As a result, Companyganj, as a safe route, has turned into a paradise for smugglers.
Because of the smuggling, farmers in the char areas are being deprived of proper quantity of fertiliser. Though many of the smugglers were arrested red-handed, they get bail easily on account of loopholes in the law and weak charge-sheets and resort to smuggling anew.
Sources in Companyganj thana said, two trucks laden with 325 sacks of fertiliser destined for Myanmar were seized on June 10 at south Muchapur village. The police arrested one a smuggler called Rafiq.
Besides, in the month of May, police also seized 260 sacks of fertiliser and arrested six persons at Charkakra Natun Bazar. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) recovered 80 drums of oil on January 12 at Rampur.
Miscreants hauled these drums on December 31, 2005, from Patenga in Chittagong. The RAB arrested Almas Khan Bahadur, Upazila Jubadal leader, in this connection.
On December 17, 2005, police recovered a huge quantity of foreign liquor from a bus and arrested six smugglers. The police said the liquor came to Companyganj from Myanmar.
A sack of fertiliser is sold in Bangladesh for Tk 300 due to subsidy provided by the government. On the other hand, one sack fetches Tk 1200 in Myanmar.
The demand for Bangladeshi fertiliser was very high in Myanmar. The farmers of the Rakhain state of Arakan in Myanmar depend on Bangladeshi fertilisers.
According to a UP chairman in Companyganj, the easy way to become a millionaire overnight is to become a dealer in fertiliser. This is why traders get busy to acquire fertiliser dealerships, even if they have to spend lakhs of takas.
Md Khorshed Alam, acting officer-in-Charge (OC) of Companyganj thana said whenever they send smugglers to the court, those criminals manage to get bail. In these cases, they have nothing to do, he added.
UNB adds from Sirajganj: The police recovered some 680 sacks of urea fertiliser from two trucks and arrested two persons in Baghabari area of Shahjadpur Upazila early Thursday.
Shahjadpur police said they raided the two trucks on an information that urea fertiliser was being smuggled out to India.
The police caught the two truck drivers but suspected smuggler Altaf Hossain managed to escape.
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