Kolkata, July 24 (IANS) The Border Security Force (BSF) is keeping a hawk eye on the India-Bangladesh border to prevent the smuggling of narcotics, an official said here Thursday. “The reports of narcotic items seizures are on the rise along the India-Bangladesh border. It’s a very serious issue which has to be addressed immediately,” BSF Inspector General (South Bengal) C.V. Murlidhar said.

He said that narcotic substances like phensidyl, heroin and hemp from India are smuggled to Bangladesh.

“Till June 30 this year, we have seized over 90,000 bottles of phensidyl cough syrup, some volume of hemp and heroin from the south Bengal border areas,” Murlidhar said.

He said: “Many young people are getting affected by this increasing narcotic substances smuggling. We also threw light on the issue during the four-day coordination conference, jointly held by the BSF and BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) between July 21-24.”