The lockdown has not deterred drug peddlers from continuing with the lucrative cross-border smuggling of cannabis (ganja) in certain pockets of north Bengal.
That the illicit activity is on in certain areas of north Bengal despite the lockdown came to light on April 4 when the Border Security Force (BSF) seized a consignment of cannabis along the border in Cooch Behar following a special operation.
The BSF said the operation yielded 44 kilograms stacked in nine plastic packets near the Mirapara border outpost under Sitalkuchi police station. The consignment, which was meant to be smuggled to Bangladesh, was seized by the BSF squad from a hidden location. No arrests have been made so far in connection with the incident.
“The lockdown has brought down the scale of these illicit cross-border activities but it has continued with certain items at some places along the border (India-Bangladesh border),” said a BSF officer on condition of anonymity.
He explained that a wide range of contraband items are smuggled to Bangladesh, including commodities that arrive at the border from far-off places. “Commodities like cattle and cough syrups have stopped for the time being since they are transported in vehicles over a long distance from other places.”
In the last three years, synthetic drugs manufactured in Myanmar such as Yaba and Ice have also found their way to Bangladesh through northeastern states. The northeast has emerged as a corridor of narcotics between the two countries owing to disturbed conditions along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border which has reduced the quantum of smuggling.
But the demand in Bangladesh for synthetic drugs continues to be high despite efforts being made by the government to check peddling and consumption. According to one estimate, more than 20 lakhs Yaba pills are consumed every day in the country and they are also sourced from domestic manufacturing centres.
There are several gaps along the 4,096km long India-Bangladesh border which includes many riverine areas, including the 61km stretch at Dhubri in Assam where the Brahmaputra River enters Bangladesh.
Last year, ‘smart fencing’ was activated in Dhubri in a scheme called BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique), under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System in a bid to check the cross-border movement of contraband items and people.
The official claimed that cannabis smuggled to Bangladesh is sourced from different destinations. Sepahijala in Tripura and the hill districts of Manipur are two hotspots in the northeast that are sources of the illicit trade that also extend to several metropolises in the country. A couple of months ago, the BSF had confiscated a truck laden with cannabis packets in Cooch Behar which was headed to a destination in north India.
Government agencies have been carrying out operations in Manipur and Tripura at regular intervals to prevent cultivation of and trade in cannabis. However, given the scant resources, a complete halt of cultivation has not yet been possible. Similar to the situation in north Bengal, farmers are prompted to cultivate cannabis as the returns are high and quick.
The ongoing lockdown seems to have halted the supply from other regions to the border. Hence, the pressure to meet the demand from Bangladesh is more on the hotspots in north Bengal where the illicit activity appears to have become very organised.
Soon after the cannabis is brought from the fields, they are packaged by another group and then delivered to squads adept in smuggling the consignments at selected spots on the border.
(Rajeev Bhattacharyya is a senior journalist in Assam. Views expressed are personal)
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