Agartala, January 21 (TIWN): Keeping the entire police administration, Border Security Force and other security agencies in a deep slumber, smuggling of contraband items is rapidly increasing in Tripura especially along the Indo-Bangla international border for over past few months.According to the official sources, the smugglers mainly use freight cars and super buses via Churaibari gate and train services to bring huge contraband items including phensedyl, tablets, different types of syrups from Silchar, Guwahati and other places. After bringing them in the state, a section of smugglers reportedly supply these contraband items to neighbouring country Bangladesh by using poor surveillance of BSF.Similarly, due to the negligence of Railway Police Force (RPF), the Agartala bound trains are being turned into a major transporting hub for the smugglers; said the source. The entry of a vast number of contraband items in state causing huge damage to the society, especially the youths including many school goers are being addicted bitterly to these items.

Asked about the cannabis cultivation, “Plantations of ganja are done on a large scale in the interior and remote areas of the border region. Since most of these plantations are located away in hills and deep forests, government agencies face tough situation to detect and destroy them.

Earlier, in order to combat with ganja cultivation, Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Sonamura- Subhasis Das along with other officials had remarkably detected and destroyed massive ganja plantations in the different parts of the sub-division, last year. But after his transfer from Sonamura, almost all the ganja cultivators and smugglers becoming active on the old way for cannabis farming and illegal trade; said a local source.

According to officials, a large number of bordering villagers in Tripura cultivate cannabis and smuggle it to Bangladesh to earn money. "There is a huge demands for cannabis in Bangladesh, and Tripura plays the key role to meet this demand", the official said.

Asked about border fencing, to ensure border supremacy, the Border Security Force authority has pushed a plan to erect barbed wire fencing in the unfenced patches soon, said a BSF official.