Jessore on hide smuggling alert

Law-enforcing agencies are on alert in bordering Jessore district to stop hides and skins of sacrificial animals getting smuggled out to India. Sharsha Police Station OC Kabir Hossain and Benapole Port Police Station OC Apurba Hasan said additional police personnel had been deployed and several check-posts set up in the border areas to combat hide smuggling. The police officers said transport of hide towards the border had been banned. They said police outposts along the border had been asked to remain alert against hide smuggling. Border Guard Bangladesh’s 26th Battalion Commander Lt Col Jahangir Hossain told bdnews24.com that members of the force were keeping a watch on the border. He said all border outposts (BOP) had been asked to remain alert and additional patrol arranged from the day of Eid. The measures have been taken against the backdrop of hide smuggling to India after Eid-ul-Azha every year. Col Jahangir said they would thwart hide smuggling at any rate. Jessore Hide Trader Association General Secretary Alauddin Mukul said Rajarhat in the district was the second largest marketplace after Dhaka for hides. He said hides worth Tk 200 million were traded in Rajarhat after every Eid-ul-Azha. Businessmen dealing with hides said agents of smugglers bought most of the hides exploiting traders’ dearth of capital. Later they hand the hides over to the smugglers, they alleged, according to bdnews24.com.