Dhaka: A Bangladesh court on Thursday sentenced 16 Bangladeshis to seven years in prison for smuggling fertilizer to Burma, reports our correspondent from Cox's Bazaar.

"The Cox's Bazaar district court sentenced them to seven years in prison after they were found guilty. They confessed that they smuggled out several tons of fertilizers to Burma from Bangladesh through sea routes," he said.

The 16 Bangladeshis were arrested by Bangladeshi naval forces with 160 tons of Bangladesh-made urea fertilizers in their possession, in the mouth of the Naff River in Teknaf Township on 19 July, 2003.

"The court sentenced them to seven years. All 16 arrested were from Teknaf Township in Cox's Bazaar District," he added.

The Burmese military junta is unable to meet the demand of Burmese farmers for fertilizer, so the prices for fertilizer are higher than in Bangladesh. Many businessmen on the border take the risk of smuggling Bangladesh-made fertilizer to Burma for the high profits to be made.

As fertilizers were being smuggled out to Burma on a large scale by smuggling syndicates, the supply in Bangladesh dropped and prices increased. The Bangladesh government subsequently began cracking down on fertilizer smuggling.

In Bangladesh, the price of standard fertilizer is only 750 taka, or 11,250 Burmese kyats, per sack, while in Burma the same sack costs 30,000 kyats.