Low-grade tea leaves are being mixed with sawdust and toxic chemicals and passed off as "Sreemangal's famous tea". Tourists from home and abroad are being cheated when they buy it, and genuine tea traders are suffering.
Inquiries show that a gang in Sreemangal upazila collects discarded dry tea leaves, leaves of other trees, sawdust and waste from tea factories. These are mixed with chemicals to make toxic tea, which is very harmful to health.
Border village raid
To catch the traders of adulterated tea, members of 55 BGB raided Sikka village near border pillar 1945 M on the Indian border in Sindurkhan union from Saturday (16 October) afternoon into the night. A large amount of adulterated tea was recovered.
S N M Samiunnabi Chowdhury, commander of Sreemangal 55 BGB, said that acting on a tip-off, they recovered a large quantity of discarded tea leaves from the homes of Md Nuru Mia, son of the late Abdul Karim, and Abdur Rahim, son of the late Abdul Bari, of Sikka village on the border, and of Abdul Majid of the same village. They had long been selling adulterated tea in different parts of the country. Sensing the BGB's presence, the gang members fled during the raid.
Md Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, assistant director of 55 BGB, said the tea is made by mixing rotten leaves, tea dust, coal dust and various harmful chemicals. It is being sold to hawkers and to some tea traders in different parts of the country.
Genuine traders hit
Md Saiful Islam, owner of Fahim Enterprise, the Sreemangal distributor for the Finlay tea company, said that because of some dishonest traders, it has become hard to sell quality tea from various gardens, including the well-known company's packaged Finlay tea. Buyers who are cheated with adulterated tea hesitate to buy tea a second time, he said.
On 27 June, members of 55 BGB under the Sreemangal sector raided the homes of Bhutu Mia, son of the late Chhabu Mia, of Hamidpur in the upazila's Sindurkhan union, and Suhel Mia, son of Abu Chhayed Mia of the same village, seizing about 500 kg of adulterated tea and 200 kg of sawdust in 24 sacks of various sizes.
Source: Bangla Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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