Teknaf, Bangladesh: Bangladeshi Rifles (BDR) personnel seized a rowboat loaded with sacks of fertilizer near the Burma-Bangladesh border on October 19, said a trader from Teknaf.

BDR troops from Maulvi Bazaar seized the vessel and its contents on suspicion that it was being smuggled illegally to Burma.

Acting on a tip off, troops led by Company Commander Mohamed Sirajul Islam of Teknaf Battalion 42 seized the boat and fertilizer on the Naff River. The suspected smugglers jumped overboard and fled.

The seized items were later handed over to customs officials in Teknaf.

Sources in Teknaf said several fertilizer syndicates near the border had for many years been smuggling fertilizer to Burma in return for drugs trafficked into Bangladesh.

Days earlier, BDR troops from Battalion 42 seized another rowboat on the Naff River carrying more than 1,000 yaba or methamphetamine tablets being transported to Bangladesh, an official in Teknaf said.