Sylhet Bureau :
Police seized the largest consignment of illegal Indian sugar in Sylhet. These sugars were seized from Umaiagao under Jalalabad police station at around 6 am on Thursday (June 6) on the way to Sylhet in 14 trucks that crossed the border. A private car and a motorcycle were seized during the raid.
However, no smuggler could be arrested at this time. Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) Deputy Commissioner (North) Azbahar Ali Sheikh (PPM) confirmed the matter. He said – based on intelligence information, we conducted a raid and seized 14 trucks full of Indian sugar. A private car and a motorcycle were seized. The total number of sacks of sugar in the 14 trucks is now being counted. Details will be given later.
He said that the smugglers fled after realizing the presence of the police. No one was arrested. An operation is underway to catch them.
Bangladesh has 30 districts bordering India. Out of this sugar is smuggled through 27 areas including Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Brahmanbaria, Mymensingh, Netrakona, Jamalpur, Feni, three hill districts (Khagrachari, Bandarban and Rangamati) and Karharhat in Mirsarai, Chittagong. But most of the sugar comes from the borders of Sylhet region. A shipment of illegal sugar from India was caught in Sylhet after a few days. Some invoices are worth crores of taka.
Police say that efforts are being made to seize the smuggled sugar consignments coming through the border though various steps have been taken.
It is known that the country’s market has been on the rise for a long time after the announcement of India’s sugar export ban. A kg of sugar was released in the retail market by 150 taka in the last Ramadan due to the gradual price increase. Taking advantage of this market situation, several unscrupulous gangs are bringing large quantities of sugar from India illegally at low prices. The government is losing a huge amount of revenue. But the consumer has to buy sugar at the previous high price. Besides, consumers are at serious health risk due to low quality Indian sugar.
According to the relevant sources, more than 40 percent of the sugar sold in the country is coming illegally. As a result, the government is currently depriving the government of about 4 thousand crores of revenue annually.
These sugars are entering through various Indian borders, especially through the Sylhet region. The importers claim that the government may lose Tk 5000 crore in revenue in the future at the rate at which stolen sugar is entering the country.
Meanwhile, the price of Indian stolen sugar is falling between 50 and 55 taka per kg. Where in the country’s market, the wholesale price of sugar per kg is 135 to 140 taka and the retail price is 150 taka. Unscrupulous gangs are making thousands of crores of taka by selling this low quality sugar at low prices. Although various steps have been taken to seize smuggled sugar shipments at the border, but it is not closing completely because it is not enough.
Traders said that the government is losing revenue of Tk. 38 per kg of sugar due to smuggled Indian sugar. But smuggled sugar is of very low quality and full of adulteration. It is Tk. 30-40 less per kg than the domestic sugar, but there is not much impact on the retail. That is, consumers are not getting any benefit. But due to high profits, many are involved in illegal sugar trade. On the other hand, there is no way to detect sugar smuggling. Because the name-logo of the bag of sugar imported from India is being used. Then there is no way to understand which one is stolen.