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Liquor swamps Patenga beach

Tarek Mahmud, Ctg
Patenga sea beach in Chittagong has turned into a haven for contraband alcoholic beverage peddlers due to a lack of proper law enforcement.
During a recent visit to the beach The Daily Star found that some alcohol vendors were roaming around seeking customers. They were approaching visitors for selling their contraband items, making some visitors quite uncomfortable.
AKM Saiful Islam, a non-alcoholic visitor, said, "I visit the beach every month with my family. But, I feel uncomfortable by the approaches of the alcohol vendors."
Some make-shift restaurants at the beach sell contraband liquors and beers almost openly, although they do not have the permission for selling the alcoholic drinks.
Two to three alcohol vendors stand in front of most of the restaurants, and openly offer alcoholic drinks to the beach goers.
Visitors said the vendors approach very politely. But many visitors get robbed once they enter the eateries for alcoholic drinks.
Abu Sayed Mohammad, a businessman who recently visited the beach, said he was robbed of valuables after he entered a restaurant for drinking alcohol.
"Along with some of my friends, I was walking on a road in the beach area. A boy invited us into a restaurant for food. He also offered foreign beers." he said adding, "After we entered the restaurant for beers, the boy and some of his associates robbed us of our mobile phone sets, wallets and money at knifepoint."
Tajul Islam, general secretary of Patenga Sea Beach Shop Owners' Go-operative Committee, admitted that some restaurants at the beach are involved in illegal sale of alcoholic beverages.
"As it is a tourist spot, many people come here and want to drink different kinds of alcohol," he said adding, "Though there is no licenced bar or shop for selling the items, some sell those contraband items secretly."
An alcohol peddler on the beach, on condition of anonymity, said a three-level syndicate is involved in the contraband alcoholic beverage business in the area.
A section of the syndicate buys various alcoholic drinks from foreign merchant vessels anchored at the outer anchorage in the Bay of Bengal. Then they sell those to a secondary syndicate. The secondary syndicate sells those to some retailers at the beach area. The retailers appoint a number of vendors who sell those to the consumers.
On condition of anonymity a retailer said, "At least 10 to 15 groups are involved in alcohol selling in the beach area."
"Around three to four groups buy the items from foreign merchant vessels," he said adding, "We get the items from the secondary syndicate."
According to him, the retailers appoint a number of teenage boys as their informers. The boys inform them over cellphones about law enforcers approaching the beach area.
A total of seven traders sell the contraband alcohols at the sea beach through their retailers and vendors, he said.
Another retailer, on condition of anonymity, said a team of police from Patenga Police Station recently raided the beach area, and caught some vendors and customers red-handed with alcohol in their possession. But they released the detainees after taking bribe, he alleged.
Pradip Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of the police station, said they are trying to stop the illegal business in the beach area.
"As the network of the traders is very strong, police often fail to arrest the traders who remain behind the scene," he said adding, "We conduct drives regularly."
Asked about the allegation that police released some detained alcohol peddlers in exchange for bribe, the OC said, "I did not get any such allegation. But I will look into it."
Mukul Jyoti Chakma, deputy director at Narcotics Gontrol Department in Chittagong, said, "We conduct drives on a regular basis, but we cannot achieve desired success due to a lack of manpower."
Acknowledging that there are syndicates of alcohol traders at the beach, Jyoti Chakma said, "I joined the office not too long ago. I am trying to collect detailed information about that."
Bangladesh Coast Guard, the country's maritime border patrol agency, seized around 13,000 bottles of different kinds of beer and liquor in several drives in the bay and the outer anchorage areas between December last year and April this year.
Lieutenant Commander Jashimuzzaman, team leader for anti-drug operation of Coast Guard in Chittagong, told The Daily Star, "We seized many contraband items in our regular drives in the bay area, but we could not arrest the gangs who are behind the scene of the business."
"We have a lack of manpower and modern patrol boats to conduct the drives effectively," he added.