Smuggling along Indo-Bangladesh border sees sharp drop

Tension and incidents along the India-Bangladesh border always existed. Recently Bangladesh witnessed a massive political turmoil and violent protest led by student organisations in August this year. Ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had to step down on August 5 and fled to India following the collapse of the Awami League-administration. An interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took over.

In continuation to that, smuggling of items such as narcotics, fake Indian currency notes (FICN) and gold from across the Indo-Bangla border has slumped over the past two and a half months. Also, there has been no sudden rise in infiltration even after allegations of massive attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, according to BSF sources.

Data available with the Border Security Force (BSF) reveals that between August 1 and October 15 this year, at least 41,17 grams of narcotics was seized while they were being smuggled into India from Bangladesh, across the international border in south Bengal.

The seizure amount was much higher, during the same period, in previous years. In 2022 and 2023 the BSF’s South Bengal Frontier seized around 19,934 grams and 10,602 grams narcotics, respectively.

The smuggling of gold also witnessed a sudden dip from 24,980 grams in 2022 and 56,897 grams in 2023 to 20,475 grams in 2024 during the same two-and-a-half-month period. The border guarding agency seized around 70 kg of silver ornaments between August 1 and October 15 in 2022 and around 137 kg in 2023, which dropped to around 51 kg this year.

Similarly in 2023, FICN worth ₹9.49 lakh was seized between August 1 and October 15 which came down to 2.99 lakhs during the same period this year. The BSF didn’t seize any FICN during this period in 2022.

“There has been a sudden drop in smuggling of some contraband items. The BSF is alert and keeping a close watch,” said NK Pandey, DIG of BSF’s South Bengal Frontier.

Interestingly, the smuggling of Phensedyl cough syrup, which is smuggled from India to Bangladesh where it is sold at exorbitant rates, has seen a sharp rise during this period. In 2022 and 2023, the BSF seized around 32,000 bottles each year, this year between August 1 and October 15, nearly 50,000 bottles have been seized.

A former BSF officer who was stationed in South Bengal, India said, “The sudden drop in smuggling of goods from Bangladesh to India could be due to the political unrest in Bangladesh. Smugglers need some form of patronage. This patronage may be lacking during times of instability and change. But this is temporary. As soon as the situation starts to normalize, they will make patrons. Hence strict vigilance is always necessary.”

India-Bangladesh border of West Bengal is about 2216 km. In South Bengal, the border is more than 900 km long, of which about 60% is riverine.

After the political unrest in Bangladesh, the BSF issued an alert and deployed additional troops along the border. Villagers living on the India-Bangladesh border have also been banned from moving freely in areas close to the international border at night. At that time border shops were asked to close by 9 pm. Announcements were made from local mosques and temples asking people to stay away from border areas. Strangely enough, much of this long border still lacks barbed wire fencing.