Bangladesh Coast Guard's East Zone has detained two men with 35,000 kilograms of urea fertiliser that was being smuggled to Myanmar. Three trucks used in the operation were also seized.

The raid took place at around 1am on the night of Wednesday, 9 September, near Banshbaria ghat under Sitakunda police station in Chattogram.

Lieutenant Commander Sabbir Alam Sujan, the Coast Guard's media officer, said Coast Guard Station Bhatiary carried out the raid on a tip-off. The fertiliser was being transferred from trucks to a cargo boat at the time. Seven hundred sacks of 50 kg each, worth roughly Tk 24 lakh 50 thousand, were seized; the urea had been produced at the KAFCO factory in Chattogram.

The two men detained are a truck driver and a helper; the drivers and helpers of the other two trucks fled when they realised the Coast Guard was there. Under initial questioning, the detainees said the fertiliser had been brought to Banshbaria ghat to be shipped to Myanmar by boat. Operations to identify and arrest the ringleaders are continuing, Lieutenant Commander Sabbir Alam Sujan said.

On 2 September the East Zone had seized about 11,000 kg of urea in a raid in the Halishahar area of Chattogram, detaining three people.

Urea sold at a subsidised price inside the country crossing the border means less of the allocated fertiliser reaching farmers; two consignments caught in Chattogram within a week have put the smuggling ring in the spotlight.

Source: banglanews24