Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has seized 895 kg of hilsa being smuggled into India through the Burichang border in Cumilla and the Doarabazar border in Sunamganj. The seized hilsa has a market value of about Tk 15.42 lakh.

BGB headquarters public relations officer Md Shariful Islam gave the information on 11 September.

He said Lieutenant Colonel AM Jaber Bin Jabbar, commander of BGB's Sultanpur Battalion (60 BGB), learned from a civil source that a consignment of hilsa had been hidden in jungle on a hillock at the Anandapur border area of Burichang upazila, Cumilla, to be smuggled into India.

The consignment was to be smuggled into India that Wednesday night. A special search was therefore carried out on the North Anandapur hillock, led by Havildar Md Masudur Rahman of the battalion's Kharera BOP.

The BGB patrol searched the whole hillock and seized 620 kg of hilsa packed in 31 cork-sheet boxes. The estimated market value of the seized hilsa is Tk 9.92 lakh.

Separately, on Wednesday morning Lieutenant Colonel Md Hafizur Rahman, commander of BGB's Sylhet Battalion (48 BGB), learned from intelligence that a consignment of hilsa was being smuggled into India through the Banglabazar border in Doarabazar upazila, Sunamganj. A BGB patrol led by Subedar Abul Bashar of Banglabazar BOP then carried out a drive at a place called Ghilatoli on the border.

During the drive the smugglers dropped the hilsa in the border area and fled, and BGB members seized the fish.

The seized hilsa weighs 275 kg and has a current market value of about Tk 5.5 lakh.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.