KOLKATA : The Border Security Force (BSF) in association with the state excise department, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have begun destruction of poppy being cultivated close to the Indo-Bangladesh border in Kaliachak, Malda. Kaliachak, where violence erupted earlier this month, is considered a major production centre for opium and a hub of cross-border smuggling. While narcotics are trafficked across the border to Bangladesh, Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) is received in return. This FICN is circulated from Kaliachak to the rest of the country. It is suspected that those involved in the attack on Kaliachak police station on January 3 have links with this illegal trade. Even Bangladeshi smugglers are suspected to have been present when the violence occurred. "We are conducting a drive to destroy poppy plants in the Sahabajpur Mouza that is close to the international border. Apart from BSF personnel, excise department staff and officers from the local police station are involved in this activity. So far, we have succeeded in destroying poppy plants on 1,450 bighas of land. We are using tractors and other far equipment to detroy the plants. Security personnel have been deployed to prevent any law and order situation," a senior BSF officer said on Saturday. This part of Kaliachak is also known as mini-Afghanistan considering the fact that a large number of residents are involved in the drug trade, FICN smuggling and gunrunning. Just as India is concerned with FICN pouring in from across the border, Bangladesh has been complaining for several years against narcotics and weapons entering its soil through the Malda border. The recent clampdown by officials may have led to the unprecedented violence earlier this month. The poppy, cultivated in the border areas of Golapganj, Sahabajpur and Sasani Parbadyanathpur is converted into Opium, Brown Sugar and Heroin. The poppy crop is sown in November-December and harveted in February-March. "We started our operations from January 8. We suspect that local criminals were aware that we would launch this drive and made an attempt to thwart us by engaging in violence on January 3. However, this ploy did not work and all state and central agencies have come together to destroy the crop. In 2015, we had destroyed poppy being cultivated on nearly 5,573 bighas in Kaliachak and neighbouring parts," the officer added. Additional excise commissioner Subrata Biswas, who has also been the zonal director of NCB said: "We managed to contain this problem in North Dinajpur. We are hopeful that the cultivation at Malda will be contained now."

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