Officials on alert for seasonal smuggling uptick in shellfish eggs
NEW DELHI: It’s that time of the year when Border Security Force (BSF) personnel across the riverine border of India with Bangladesh are on particularly high alert. As the sun sets in the eastern part of the country, the border guards keep an eye on the waters to look for any suspicious movement of people trying to smuggle makeshift oxygen bags with shellfish eggs inside to Bangladesh. Shellfish eggs from India, especially Andhra Pradesh, are in high demand in Bangladesh. At this time of the year, these are among the most smuggled items. On the night of April 21, a BSF patrol team at the Boltala outpost in West Bengal’s North Parganas district recovered 15 such oxygen bags filled with shellfish eggs that smugglers left behind before fleeing upon spotting border guards. The bags are plastic ones filled with oxygen and water that are recommended for the transport of eggs. The smugglers hide from border guards, reach the border, and then throw the bags into the river. These are then collected by receivers across the border. Some drop bags to the bottom of the river, or pass it through the India-Bangladesh border. On April 19, at the same border outpost, BSF seized 21 bags. At two different border outposts of Ghojadanga and CS Khali on the same night, officials seized 20 bags. Records show that during each attempt, smugglers try to transport around 15-40 bags. Shellfish eggs, not included in permissible export items under India and Bangladesh, are in high demand in the grey market. The live eggs are transported and used for aquaculture in Bangladesh. “The fish eggs from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (aquaculture is big in both) are brought on flights to West Bengal and then to its border districts. The smugglers take the help of village residents, who are legally involved in prawn farming,” said an official. BSF officials said that the eggs are mainly of Bagda Chingri (medium-sized prawns), Galda Chingri (tiger prawns), Chati Chingri (shrimp), and lobster. “In India, one shellfish egg costs around 60 paise. Each bag can hold 15,000-25,000 eggs. The price of one egg bag in India may be around ₹9,000 but as soon as it reaches Bangladesh, it increases nearly 7-8 times,” said a BSF official who asked not to be named. According to data seen by HT, the force recovered 1,743 bags in 2021 and 2,024 in 2022. This year, until April 22, 144 were seized, but it picks up before the monsoon, said officials. Amresh Arya, deputy inspector general (DIG) of BSF’s South Bengal frontier, said, “At this time of the year, our troops are on high alert to stop every attempt