Hilsa Hijacked: The Lucrative Underwater Heist Uncovered

Hilsa is smuggled as the price is higher in India than in the country. There is no way to stop human trafficking. Indian traders buy hilsa caught in fishermen’s nets by trawlers. Hilsa traders and fishermen of Bangladesh gave such information. On the other hand, hilsa is exported legally due to government permission. This year, the government has given an opportunity to export 3 thousand metric tons of hilsa.

According to research, there is a demand for hilsa of any size from Indian traders. If the size is large, then there is nothing to say. This year, hilsa weighs 300 to 350 grams, and sometimes one or one and a half kilograms is caught in the fishermen’s nets. Most of it is exported to India. Indian businessmen collect hilsa fish caught in fishermen’s nets from the sea and bring it to the market there. The hilsa dadan traders take it from fishing trawlers and hand it over to Indian traders at a higher price.

Apart from this, Bangladeshi hilsa goes to India through Kakdwip, the land port of West Bengal, India through the Bay of Bengal near the Sundarbans. As a result, the desired hilsa is not available in the country’s market. And what is available is expensive. In a word, the national fish of Bangladesh is beyond the affordability of most people in the country.

Hilsa is known to go to various markets from the states of Assam and Meghalaya including Agartala, the capital of Tripura state in India, through the land port of Akhaura in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi fish traders have complained that using Akhaura land port, various species of fish are exported to Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya in India, including Rui, Pabda, Koi, Shing. Hilsa is also illegally exported. Rui, Pabda, Kai, Shing are written on top of the cartoon, but Hilsa is hidden underneath. Smuggling cannot be stopped due to lack of strict checks at land ports.

It is known from different markets of Bangladesh that the price of one kilogram of hilsa fish weighing 300 to 3.50 grams is 800 to 1000 taka in the market. Hilsa of 900 grams to 1 kg weight is sold at 1600 to 1800 taka per kg. If the size and weight of hilsa is more than one kg, it is sold at the rate of Tk 2000 to 2200 per kg.

On the other hand, on Sunday (September 22), hilsa weighing 900 grams to 1000 grams or one kilogram was sold at a price of 1,900 to 2,200 rupees, which is 2,470 to 2,860 rupees in Bangladeshi currency, in various markets, including Barasat and Howrah Markets from Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, India at the rate of Rs. (Indian Rupee 100 as Bangladeshi Taka 130).

Similarly, in different markets of Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya, hilsa of the same weight is sold at the rate of 1,800 to 2,000 rupees per kg. Which is 2 thousand 340 taka to 2 thousand 600 taka in Bangladeshi currency.

When asked about this, Satyajit Mahajan, a hilsa trader in Kolkata, told the Bangla Tribune that hilsa is now in high demand in various markets in Kolkata. With Durga Puja ahead, Hilsa is now in high demand in Kolkata. So the price is not important, getting hilsa is important. For this reason, we are buying hilsa this year from traders in Bangladesh at a much higher price than last year. We buy hilsa at a rate of 1600 to 2200 Bangladeshi taka per kg.

Haripad Roy, a fish trader in Tripura, told the Bangla Tribune that although the fish packets pushed through the Akhaura border, they reached Tripura. So getting hilsa from Bangladesh is not a problem for us. He said that compared to last year, hilsa of all weights had to be bought at a price of Tk 200 to Tk 300 more this year. There is demand on the occasion of Durga Puja.

Another businessman from Tripura told the Bengali Tribune that it was unknown that different species of fish from Akhaura were coming to Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya from Bangladesh legally. Along with this, hilsa comes here from Bangladesh by avoiding the eyes of land port officials or their control. So we don’t have to struggle to get hilsa from Bangladesh. Because the price is high, the traders there also send us hilsa. We are buying hilsa at a slightly higher price this year.

In this regard, Pirojpur hilsa trader Mokarram Hossain told Bangla Tribune that we are helping the fishermen in their difficult times. Fishermen give us their hilsa in order to pay money. We supply it to the domestic market. But this year hilsa is caught less due to various reasons. Even in the full season, the desired hilsa is not available. On top of this there is a great demand in India. The price is good. So we export to that too. He said that Indian traders buy hilsa from the sea.

<span style="max-width:100%" class="jwMediaContent jw_media_holder aligncenter" data-align="aligncenter" id="ari-image-jw66f305bcb3b85" data-ari="{"path":"media/2024/04/06/-2cf2a1ee46f7abb3da0e132b11fa7467.jpg","width":"700","alt":"u09b8u09beu0997u09b0 u09a5u09c7u0995u09c7 u09aau09beu099au09beu09b0 u09b9u099au09cdu099bu09c7 u0987u09b2u09bfu09b6","fullscreen":1,"align":"aligncenter","viewPort":".featured_image","url":"https://www.banglatribune.com/national/864824/%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%97%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%A5%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%9A%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%9A%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%9B%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B6#image-jw66f305bcb3b85","id":"jw66f305bcb3b85","caption":"","wrapCaption":"“}”> Hilsa is smuggled from the sea

It should be noted that the supply of hilsa this year is less compared to last year in the country’s market. Therefore, the price of hilsa has not reached the purchasing power of lower class or lower middle class family buyers. There is also a lot of anger as the price of this fish, which depends on size and weight, is always beyond the reach of ordinary buyers. On the other hand, from October 13 to November 3, hilsa fishing, marketing and marketing will be closed for 22 days. During these 22 days no one can give hilsa as a gift. Hilsa cannot be stored at this time. Because of this, there are fewer people available Hilsa in the market, but not many people can afford to buy it. The price of one kilogram of hilsa weighing 300 to 350 grams is 800 to 1000 taka in different markets of Bangladesh. Hilsa of 900 grams to 1 kg weight is sold at 1600 to 1800 taka per kg. If the weight of hilsa is more than one kg, it is sold at the price of Tk 2000 to 2200 per kg. This information has been found in different regions of the country including the capital.

When asked about this, Chandpur hilsa trader Laxman Chandra Das said that after a few days, the ban on holding hilsa comes for 22 days to give the mother hilsa a chance to release eggs. Because of that, traders and buyers are increasingly interested in hilsa. What is caught in the fishermen’s nets is supplied to the market. Buyers are also desperate to buy hilsa thinking that hilsa will not be available for 22 days. This increases the price of hilsa. The price of hilsa is not falling this year due to lack of supply.

Trade advisor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters recently that there is no reason to increase the price in the country’s market because of the export of 3000 tons of hilsa to India. Three thousand tons of hilsa is not even a day’s production in Chandpur. This will not affect the hilsa market.

Hilsa Hijacked: The Lucrative Underwater Heist Uncovered

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