The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has seized various smuggled goods worth over Tk2,184 crore, raiding the country’s border areas and other places from 1 January to 31 December 2024, according to various media reports in Bangladesh.
The seized goods included sugar, gold, silver, saris, cosmetics, onions, garlic, cumin, fish, betel nut, wood, stone, coal, imitation jewellery, stone statues, snake venom, ambergris, bidis and cigarettes, fertiliser, diesel, petrol, octane, mobile phones, mobile displays, glasses, chocolates, biscuits, pesticides, turtle bones, fireworks, trucks, covered vans, buses, cars, microbuses, pickups, CNG, easy bikes, motorcycles and bicycles.
According to a press release from the BGB, the confiscated items also include 7,015,824 kg of sugar, reported The Business Standard.
In 2024, the price of sugar was increasing in the domestic market of Bangladesh, leading to a rise in unauthorized and unofficial sugar smuggling. Members of the BGB have been intercepting these illegal shipments.
A local news portal Bonikbarta.net reported in September 2024 that most of the illegally imported sugar originated from the Sylhet and Feni border regions. With sugar prices high in Bangladesh, the trend of illegal imports surged. Smugglers often conceal the sugar under loads of sand or husk, and with the assistance of local influential figures and some officials, this sugar is distributed throughout the country without paying customs duties. Authorities suspect that several times more sugar has entered the domestic market than what has been confiscated at the border.
