Essentials like sugar and edible oil are being smuggled to Myanmar through many border points at Teknaaf and Ukhiya ahead of Ramadan.
A section of local unscrupulous traders are openly hoarding the basic commodities for smuggling, sources said.
Businessmen purchase the goods and send them to towns and villages near the border, from where, instead of selling to the locals, the goods are hoarded.
The smuggling, just a few weeks before Ramadan, may create food shortage and push prices up, locals fear. Villagers living on the zero points along the Ukhiya and Teknaaf borders said Bangladeshi smugglers were having a tough time in their business, which had declined due to strict vigilance at the frontier spurred by recent communal violence in Myanmar.
But they resumed activities last week to make quick money before Ramadan. Many rickshaws, vans, taxies and jeeps laden with oil are seen going towards zero points.
Locals alleged that these containers are being smuggled at the dead of the night.
For past few years, Arakani Muslims, living in the border-side villages, collect essentials like edible oil, sugar, gram, fertiliser and cosmetics, smuggled across the border, and trade with liquor, said Nurul Haque, a Rohinga fisherman.
Teknaaf BGB 42 battalion’s Commanding Officer Lt Col Jahid Hasan said the smugglers frequently change routes being informed about BGB patrol teams.
“This is why it is becoming increasingly difficult to nab the smugglers,” he said.
During last Ramadan, Ukhiya police recovered 5,000 litres of edible and crude.
Cox’s Bazar SP Md Azad Mia said he was not aware of the smuggling.
Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md Ruhul Amin said tough actions would be taken if traders ventured to create any kind of artificial crisis during Ramadan.
