By Takaloo, Cox’s Bazaar: More than 300 kilograms of barbed-wire smuggled into Bangladesh from Burma's border fence construction sites were seized on Sunday by local police near Ukhia Town in Cox's Bazaar District in southern Bangladesh, reports a Bangladesh police source.

A police team from the Ukhia police station seized the barbed-wire around 5 am from a jeep being used to transport it to a local market on the highway near Ukhia College, the source said.

Bangladesh's Ukhia town is situated about 10 kilometers southeast of Taungbro in Maungdaw Township in western Burma.

The wire was strong and of good quality, and was finally determined to have been smuggled from Burma's border fence, added the source.

However, the source refused to give details of the seized jeep or the individuals involved in the smuggling.

According to the source, this is the first instance of anyone being caught by Bangladesh law enforcement agencies with goods stolen from the border fence, even though Burma has been constructing the fence for nearly a year.

Border sources said that since the fence project began, the smuggling of cement and steel from Burma's border fence sites into Bangladesh has occasionally been carried out by the cross-border syndicates.

Burma has already completed the erection of the barbed-wire between fence pillars for more than half of the proposed 40-mile border fence, which is being constructed with the stated aim of checking cross-border smuggling and trafficking, said the source.

Local sources say the barbed-wire was smuggled out by some army officials at the construction site for personal profit.