S Dinajpur Customs officials under fire

Statesman News Service

MALDA, July 4: The land Customs officials of South Dinajpur have come under severe pressure after the seizure of nearly 300 quintals of sugar that were being smuggled to Bangladesh via the Hilli border in South Dinajpur, yesterday, official sources said. The Hilli custom officials have been reportedly instructed by their superiors to stay away from the joint operation being carried out with the BSF jawans. The objective of the joint operation is to seize over 4,000 quintals of illegal sugar stored along the Bangladesh border. Following the instructions of higher authorities, the joint operation between the Customs and the BSF has apparently been suspended midway. The newly posted assistant commissioner at the Hilli land Custom station refused to comment on the problem on the phone and said: “The commissioner of Customs will provide the details on this matter. I have no comments.” According to border security officials, the three BSF officials leading the joint operation for seizing sugar from lorries and local godowns were also taken off the operation after Customs officials did not conduct raids yesterday. The BSF’s failure to check sugar smuggling along the unfenced border of South Dinajpur has been a constant source of embarrassment for the officials. A few days ago, the BSF had intercepted three lorries loaded with sugar near the South Dinajpur border. One of the lorries was handed over to the police and a case was filed under Rule-I-44 Cr PC. “The lorry was carrying sugar towards the border without the approval of the Central sugar board when we apprehended it,” a BSF official commenting on the operation, said. The BSF intelligence branch had gathered information that nearly 4000 quintals of sugar was stored in various godowns in Hilli, Trimohini and Balurghat. These areas are very close to the unfenced Indo-Bangladesh border. The BSF, along with customs officials, conducted a raid as huge lorries began to arrive near the Hilli land Customs station after the completion of the Indo-Bangladesh sugar export deal, yesterday. According to investigating officers, illegal sugar trade on the Bangladesh border is rampant. An investigating officer said: “Illegal sugar trade goes on continuously through a legal route. Sugar is smuggled via the legal route by providing documents that show other items instead of sugar.” A senior BSF official said: “Apart from the lorries carrying the sugar, smugglers have devised another method to take advantage of the unfenced border. Everyday, nearly 500 women, girls and children carry 10 kg sugar bags on their heads and hand them over to Bangladeshi traders across the border.” He further added: “Our jawans cannot chase women and girls as this can create unnecessary problems for the force.”