NEW DELHI, April 20: Smuggling of cattle and other goods is a regular feature on the 4000-km-long porous Indo-Bangladesh border in Northeast and the East and is satirically known as informal trade, which is higher compared to the formal one.
But what has baffled the security persons and the customs officials is that there are increasing cases of gangs smuggling quirk items like human hair, snake venom, exotic wild animals and now even spectacles, that too in huge volume.
The BSF Meghalaya frontier only recently foiled a smuggling attempt along the international border and seized 3,380 spectacles worth Rs 16 lakh.
Cases of large-scale smuggling of human hair were reported earlier with a pan-India network involving a high-volume, high-paying racket.
Cases of seizure of cobra venom in glass jars were found earlier along the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.
While human hair, especially that of women, were found to be used as wigs in China, venoms are reportedly meant for giving high to drugs in rave parties and cough syrups are used as intoxicants since public consumption of alcohol is banned in Bangladesh.
Smugglers continue to be active at India’s borders with Bangladesh, keeping border guards on their toes with new methods and newer items being illicitly transported. Large numbers of children and women are used as carriers since and, even if they are caught, they are let up on sympathy factors by the jawans.
At times, contraband goods are neatly packed and thrown across the fenced border and the money traction happens informally later.
The vast porous border is also the reason why India and Bangladesh have flourishing informal trade. Informal trade in this region typically involves illegal transactions with the participation of local residents and enforcement agencies, either through small-scale bootlegging or larger smuggling syndicates.
At times, the smuggling nexus is a loose network of line-men, agents and carriers, who facilitate the smuggling of goods. There are several legal and illegal ghats on the border where smuggling takes place in exchange of money through boats.
There are three main reasons behind the robustness of informal trade on the Indo-Bangladesh border, according to an old study. Official machinery is slow and outdated, thereby creating delays and escalating costs.
Bribes and other demands via government officials add to the transaction expenses, the study said.
An inadequate transport infrastructure, leading to high transit expenditure, creates an incentive for informal trade.
The study, which surveyed 200 formal and informal traders on both sides of the border, also reported that food, consumer goods, medicines like phensedyl and textiles were the most popular exports from India.
There is also a booming cattle trade that is worth millions of rupees feeding off Muslim-dominated Bangladesh’s high demand for beef.
The main reason for the smuggling is also high price differences besides the law of demand and supply, researchers added.
