BSF foils major Phensedyl smuggling bid on Bangladesh border

Time of India

15-06-2025

Kolkata:
Phensedyl smuggling
has become rampant in the last six months in Bengal and has substantially replaced cattle smuggling across the Indo-Bangladesh border West Bengal.
The
BSF South Bengal Frontier
has foiled another major smuggling attempt of 340 bottles of
Phensedyl
on Monday in the wee hours on the Indo-Bangladesh International Border in
Nadia district
and recovered 21,00,000 Bangladeshi Taka, (around highest in last six months), amid the political turmoil in Bangladesh, people in the know told ET.
In January this year, BSF seized a huge consignment of 62,200 bottles of Phensedyl from Nahata in Nadia district and uncovered three underground bunkers packed with Phensedyl, a cough syrup banned in Bangladesh though used as an addictive substance.
The stash was only one kilometre away from the border. During the search operations, BSF found three underground storage tanks and two of these storage tanks were built under dense vegetation while another was built under a hut made of CGI sheets.
Following the big haul of January, several smaller quantities have been seized in the past few months. 'Phensedyl smuggling has increased in the last six months while the cattle smuggling across the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal has substantially decreased. In many cases, small amounts of Phensedyl bottles are thrown across the fences easily by smugglers, a highly placed BSF source told ET.
Meanwhile, on Monday the jawans of BSF South Bengal Frontier foiled the smuggling of 11 kg of Ganja along with Phensedyl and Bangladeshi currency. 'This action was made possible by the vigilance and prompt response of jawans at the border, who quickly acted on information about suspicious activity and foiled the smugglers' plans,' BSF said.
The jawans of BSF Border Outpost Gongra of 161 Battalion received information that illegal items could be smuggled from the area of the border outpost. Acting on the input, the jawans of the Border Outpost planned to catch the smugglers red-handed and set up ambushes at highly sensitive locations, sources said.
DIG, BSF, South Bengal Frontier, and spokesperson NK Pandey said 'The ongoing operation by the Border Security Force (BSF) to curb smuggling and
drug trafficking
along the India-Bangladesh border is consistently achieving remarkable success. Owing to the sharp vigilance and rapid response of BSF jawans, smuggling attempts along the border are repeatedly being disrupted."
'Around 3 a.m., the BSF jawans noticed suspicious movements near the fencing, where several smugglers were hiding in a banana orchard. The jawans immediately sprang into action, attempting to surround the suspects and warning them to stop. Realizing they were surrounded by BSF, the smugglers took advantage of the darkness and the dense banana plantation, managed to flee,' BSF sources said.
A search operation was carried across the area and 21,00,000 Bangladeshi currency, 340 bottles of Phensedyl and 11 kg of Ganja were recovered from the spot. All the recovered items have been seized and handed over to the concerned department.