Page 64 - DRI ANNUAL REPORT EBOOK

The Longwa Village Chief’s house, through which the international border passes
The complexity of the border areas in political, social and geographic sense has led to creation of numerous illegal border crossing points along the International Border (IB) which are highly dynamic and often get shifted to a new location upon detection. The usual modus operandi is carrying the contrabands as head loads across the borders especially rivers to escape surveillance. Selecting the least inhabited locations along the IMB line, the carriers usually trek through the dense jungles for hours together to reach their destination. In some cases, the apprehended carriers were seen carrying food items to sustain themselves during these long arduous treks. Thereafter a vast network of local carriers further ferry the goods to other collection points. There are
around 42 such identified vulnerable border crossing points in Mizoram and Manipur.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, shares its entire land border of 4096 km only with India and its demand for contrabands particularly drugs need to pass through Indian borders for local consumption. The border running through rivers, agricultural fields and even houses some of which have doors opening in both the countries makes it extremely challenging for surveillance and monitoring. The gaps in fencing due to riverine borders, which are shallow enough to wade and cross, facilitate smuggling to a great extent. The border sees smuggling of Narcotics, gold, Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) in addition to food products and other consumer goods.
30 SMUGGLING IN INDIA REPORT 2019-20