BSF recently arrested two youths for smuggling cough syrup near Hakimpur
BSF recently arrested two youths for smuggling cough syrup near Hakimpur
Despite a decline in cattle smuggling and other drug smuggling, codeine-based cough syrups remain a challenge for border security forces along the India-Bangladesh border. Border Security Force (BSF) personnel on February 14 arrested two youths for allegedly smuggling it near Hakimpur border post in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.
A communication shared by the BSF said that two local youths Mostakin Shaikh, 19, and Shaheen Sardar, 21, were allegedly involved in drug smuggling in the area for the past few days. He was to be paid ₹500 for transporting the 60 Phensedyl bottles recovered from his possession.
SS Guleria, Deputy Inspector General and spokesperson of BSF’s South Bengal Frontier, said these arrests were a result of the BSF developing a network to trace information about smuggling, and efforts were being made so that nothing was hidden from the soldiers. Can go
In the first few weeks of 2022, the BSF’s South Bengal Frontier had seized around 1,000 bottles of Phensedyl in the border areas. In the year 2021, the South Bengal Frontier seized 1.64 lakh bottles of cough syrup. 2.99 lakh bottles were seized in 2020 and 1.98 lakh bottles in 2019.
Senior BSF officials said it was difficult to stop the smuggling as small quantities of Phensedyl are smuggled from India to Bangladesh. “Over the years, we have closed factories manufacturing Phensedyl in the hinterland. Sometimes farmers smuggle it, sometimes people throw it over the fence on the other side of the border,” said a senior BSF official.
The cost of a bottle in India is around ₹200 and as soon as it crosses the limit, the price reaches thousands. BSF officials said that in Bangladesh, which has a Muslim majority population, religious beliefs have prohibited the consumption of alcohol and cough syrup with codeine phosphate is an easy way for people to get high.
During the talks between the border security forces of the two countries, officials of the Border Guards Bangladesh had expressed concern over smuggling. Not only the BSF but also other investigative agencies keep an eye on smuggling. Earlier on February 3, Kolkata Customs in an operation with Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized around 10,000 bottles of Phensedyl headed to Bangladesh via Bongaon in North 24 Parganas.
Along with Phensedyl another drug that is smuggled in large quantities across the international border is Yaba tablets. According to the investigating agencies, these bullets usually originate from Myanmar and come to India from Bangladesh. Yaba is a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine that is sold as cheap red or pink tablets and works as a stimulant for the central nervous system. In 2021, the BSF South Bengal Frontier seized around 14,147 tablets when it was allegedly being smuggled into India. The seizure in 2019 from the same limit was 53,763 yaba tablets.
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