Elderly men used as drug carriers in border areas
Smugglers in border areas of Lalmonirhat and Kurigram districts are hiring old people to transport contraband drugs.
A 74-year -old man, Zahurul Islam Khandakar of Balarhat border under Fulbari upazila of Kurigram district, was arrested at Nizpara area in Lalmonirhat Sadar with one kg of hemp.
Zahurul, son of late Akbar Ali of the village, told police that he got Tk 1,000 for carrying contraband Indian drugs, with all expenditure paid by the smugglers.
A smuggler at Durgapur border in Aditmari upazila said many poverty-stricken senior citizens are engaged in transporting contraband drugs from border areas to other places. “Sometimes the carriers pretend to be patients going for treatment to a hospital or clinic,” he added.
“Two years ago, poor women of border villages were used for transporting contraband drugs, but the law enforcing agencies came to know about that, so we started using elderly people,” said another smuggler.
Smugglers prefer people aged 65 to 75 years, who are energetic and can walk and travel by bus and train. The carriers are paid according to the quantity of the drugs.
Mahmudunnai, second officer of Lalmonirhat Sadar Police Station, said police caught Zahurul on a tip-off. “At first we didn't believe that the old man, who looked like a patient, was carrying drugs, but we found the hemp when we searched him,” he added.
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