Titash Chakraborthey, Khulna Correspondent
Rampant roaming of smugglers plague the waterways crisscrossing the Khulna region. The perpetrators are mostly active in Bhairab, Atrai, Rupsha and Pashur rivers, and scavenge non-edible oil, food and fertilizer. The smuggling group collaborated with carrier vessel’s staff members to run their operations in the evening or at night, late at night and early in the morning. Recently, there were reports of naval police and smugglers playing cats and mouse in the Bhairab River late at night.
On Tuesday at the early hours of the night, naval police conducted a camouflaged drive to document and trace the illegal activities of the smugglers of the area. A team of Khulna Sadar Naval Police Station raided the place after receiving information from secret sources. A few locals were hiding in the bushes on the river bank to observe the whole incident. According to the sources, a group of six or seven miscreants were waiting with a small trawler. After about half an hour’s journey to the nearest ferry terminal, they set sail for the ship. The big trawler loaded with fuel oil went to Charerhat Ghat on the other side. The small trawler loaded oil and returned to Sholpur ferry. The smugglers hid the trawler loaded with oil in the gaps of the big trawlers tied to the wharf and disguised in few other trawlers. The police trawler then moved away from them towards the Atrai river.
Sources said the oil was unloaded from the hidden trawler at Sholpur ferry that night, was smuggled from the house of the ringleader in seven plastic barrels with a capacity of 220-30 liters. Shortly before the Fajr call, the barrels were taken in a blue mini pickup to a retail oil retailer in the Palerhat area.
According to sources, members of the Sholpur Khenyaghat-based ring are smuggling fuel worth millions of taka from oil tankers operating at various points on the Bhairab and Atrai rivers. They are also collecting stolen oil from cargo cargo in the river. The miscreants are supplying the oil to some retailers in Rupsha’s Jugihati area, local grocery stores and an oil depot in Alaipur area. They also sell oil at various brick kilns in Rupsha and Terkhada.
On November 11, 2017, RAB-6 members raided the Bhairab river and seized an oil tanker named MT Raida along with a large quantity of diesel stolen from Chittagong. A case was filed at Dighalia police station in this incident. No significant incidents of fuel oil seizures or arrests have been reported in Khulna since then. However, in the last few months, Coast Guard members have raided the river adjacent to Mongla Upazila in Bagerhat and arrested several smugglers with stolen oil.
Lt. Col. Raushanul Firoz, director of RAB-6, said the operation was on to nab those involved in any smuggling, including fuel oil, on the basis of precise information verification and intelligence. According to multiple reliable sources, Humayun and Shawkat of Sholpur Kheyaghat in Rupsha Upazila were involved in a smuggling ring of 15-20 people. Some children and teenagers have also been used to smuggle and sell stolen oil from ships. Another fuel theft ring has been set up under the leadership of Neyamat in the adjoining Yugihati Kabir area.
A few months ago, some children in charge of guarding the newsprint mill arrested a child with a trawler and handed him over to the Khalishpur police. But later they did not lodge a written complaint with the police. Police released the trawler and the baby. The trawler is said to have been a ring of thieves.
Khulna Sadar Naval Police Station, Dakop’s Nalian Naval Police Station, Rupsa Outpost, Dakop’s Tildanga area outpost, Paikgachha outpost and Antihara area outpost of Koyra upazila are working to suppress various crimes along the river.
Acting SP of River Police Md Ziauddin Ahmed said, efforts were being made to arrest other smugglers, including fuel oil. However, due to the water and manpower crisis, the work of the regular patrol team has not gained momentum. The higher authorities have been informed to take steps to resolve the crisis.
