The violence of the illegal Indian cigarette trading syndicate in the hill town of Rangamati is not abating. Every day, a smuggling syndicate is bringing Indian cigarettes through Kaptai lake to some place in Rangamati town and stocking them in certain areas. Recently, the security forces have entered the field against this gang. In the span of a week, the security forces have seized nearly Tk. two crore worth of Indian illegal cigarettes in Rangamati town alone.
Rangamati Sadar Army Zone authorities said that based on specific intelligence, Captain Md Sakif Rahman conducted a special operation along with army and BGB members in Shahid Minar area of Reserve Bazaar of Rangamati town on Tuesday (September 10th) night.
Meanwhile, 11 thousand 970 packets of Oris Silver and 34 thousand 830 packets of Omega cigarettes were seized from an abandoned boat kept on the shore of Kaptai Lake adjacent to Shaheed Minar. The estimated value of millet is Tk. 93 lakh 60 thousand. The zone authorities said that the recovered illegal cigarettes were later handed over to the representative of Sector Headquarters BGB. Such operation of security forces will continue to maintain peace in Chattogram Hill Tracts by the Rangamati zone.
Meanwhile, the illegal trade of Indian cigarettes has been flourishing in Rangamati recently. Duty-free illegal Indian cigarettes are brought across the Indian border of Rangamati's jurachari at a price of Tk. 2,000 per cartoon. At least 15 businessmen of Rangamati are directly involved in the business of Indian Mond, Moon, Omega and Oris Silver cigarettes. According to the investigation, these illegal cigarettes are stored in Banrupar Samtaghat, DC Bungalow area, Tabalchari, Karmachari Colony, Bhedvedi Youth Development Area, Reserve Bazar, Shariatpur, Puranabasti area of Rangamati. These cigarettes are packed in polythene sacks and brought to Rangamati by local engine boats.
A tarpaulin is draped over the boat to make it look like a fishing boat. Each boat is rented for Tk. 5 to 10 thousand and these cigarettes are brought by the syndicate circle. According to a related source, a Chakma smuggler brings it to Balukhali on the other side of the Kaptai lake in Rangamati town and stores it. After that, while bringing it to Rangamati town, everyone concerned in the town paid the subscription and brought it to Rangamati town within the time given by them.
Meanwhile, another responsible source said, a smuggler from Jurachari brought Indian cigarettes to Rangamati and stored them in the reserve market dealer's store room, packed them in a special way at night and sent them to cars or auto rickshaws and taxis after passing Manikchari-Ghagra check post. Sometimes also sent by courier service.
During the conversation with the concerned parties, they said that a syndicate of 5 people in Chattogram is the controller of this cigarette business. Photographs of some of them have also been received by the reporter. At least three people involved in the cigarette business told the reporter on condition of anonymity, "Brother, we sell one crore cigarettes for around Tk. two and a half crore. But we have to pay a huge amount of subscription to some local circles.
After the change of power in the last 5 days, we have to pay at least Tk. 6 to 10 lakh per group in each consignment by breaking the names of different groups, and also to pay subscription of Tk. 10 to 15 lakh for various media. By doing this, the total profit is Tk. half a crore. Many times terrorists take the entire money by killing the whole goods and selling them elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the cigarettes are worth Tk. 93.5 lakh recovered from Kaptai lake near Shaheed Minar in Rangamati town on Tuesday night belong to four persons named Tarun, Soumen, Sohag and Prakriti Chakma, according to related sources.
It is reported that recently some collectors of a large regional group of tribals have invested at least Tk. 10 crore in this illegal cigarette business. A person from Chattogram whose mobile phone number is 01811...........47. This person controls the syndicate through Rangamati, Khagrachari, Cox's Bazar, Teknaf, Feni, Cumilla Chhagalnaiya border and manages all the parties involved in illegal cigarette trade. Through it, in the past year, a clique of the then rulers used to collect about crores of money per month only on the Rangamati route. After the change of power, the cigarette business continued by paying double the rate through the new Paharadars.