Narinjara News

OFFICIAL BORDER TRADE CLOSED, ILLEGAL SMUGGLING OPENED

Teknaf, 14^th December 01: The Nasaka border security forces on the Myanmar side at the border town of Maungdaw have kept the official border trade with Bangladesh suspended since the US attack on Afghanistan a month ago, according to a Myanmarese trader available here, our correspondent from Teknaf confirmed.
Though the official border trade remain suspended, the illegal smuggling vessels from Irrawaddy delta and Rakhine coastline regularly visit the Bangladesh coastline.  Every day hundreds of smuggling vessels are seen to call at Teknaf and Shahpur island in the south-eastern tip of Bangladesh.  Each smuggling vessel has to pay US $50 cash to MI, and 30,000 kyat to the police at Sittwe town; and 50,000 kyat to the Navy, and 20,000 to the Customs lying in wait in the waters at Sittwe, as told to our correspondent by one of the smuggler-traders from Myanmar available at Teknaf town on the Bangladesh side.  On 13^th November, the Burmese Navy nabbed a smuggling boat which did not pay the required sum of bribe, about 10 miles west of the mouth of the river Naf at Maungdaw.  The vessel contained 13 heads of cattle, 40 gunny bags of unknown commodities, and 10 crew members.  Most of the contraband items that come illegally to Bangladesh include, textiles, umbrellas, shoes, Chinese electronic goods, rice, pulses, alcoholic beverages, cattle, shrimp, crabs, etc.  #

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