Shillong, Aug 27: The “friendship bus” between India and Bangladesh was on Monday found to be having a dark secret in its belly at Dawki land port.

The Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati bus service, called ‘Shyamoli’ – meaning dusky in Bangla, was found to be carrying smuggled items worth Rs. 48 lakhs under its chassis in a secret chamber which authorities had to use a welding machine to cut open.

Inside the secret chamber were silver ornaments about 30 kg, 110 mobile phones, 238 Banarasi sarees, over 1000 contact lenses, mobile accessories and other items.

Three of the staff, all Bangladeshi nationals, of this friendship bus were detained and have been forwarded to the customs office for further interrogation and legal action. This included the driver, the tour manager and the helper.

They have been identified as: Md Hazrat (Driver), Tahsin (Conductor), and Mahbur Rahman (Manager).

A customs official said, “We received intel about the consignment, but we were in disbelief that this modus operandi could also be used for smuggling.”

However, the security agencies weren’t taking chances and kept the bus under close vigilance to spot any discrepancies. “The bus reached Shillong ISBT at 6.30 am and Dawki land port at 12.30 pm and that’s where we stopped and checked it and found the illegal consignment.”

This bus service began in 2014 and at times ferried just one to two passengers to India from Bangladesh. This raised suspicion of officials from India on several occasions on the economic viability of running the bus almost empty.

There were also unconfirmed reports received earlier that gold was being smuggled on Shyamoli from Bangladesh. However, considering the importance of the bus service in bilateral relationships, the matter was not aggressively pursued.

The irony now is that the three staff of the bus would probably be deported without any action as this bus service is run by the two governments and there are set protocols. Only if the seizure is more than Rs. 50 lakh, then they could have been arrested immediately, officials informed.

There were 24 passengers on the bus returning to their home in Bangladesh. These passengers were escorted across the border safely by the BSF. The bus has been seized.

This episode of betrayal would cast a shadow on the Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati bus service and also put other similar bus and train services from Tripura and West Bengal to Bangladesh under the scanner and the road ahead could be gloomy.

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