Passengers halted an intercity train for three hours at Panchbibi station in Joypurhat yesterday protesting carrying of smuggled goods in trains and alleged harassment by border troops in the name of raids.
Hundreds of passengers got down from Barendra Express that runs between Nilphamari and Rajshahi when it arrived at Panchbibi station at around 10:00am and staged demonstration for three hours until 1:00pm.
They sat on the rail track just in front of the locomotive of the express train and held a rally, said sources in the headquarters of Bangladesh Railway's west zone in Rajshahi.
The agitators said the smugglers were carrying Indian fertiliser at different compartments of Barendra Express since it started from Nilphamari. Half an hour before the train reached Panchbibi, some members of Bangladesh Rifles challenged the smugglers, they said.
At this stage, the smugglers spread the fertiliser inside the compartments by cutting sacks and threw the sacks bearing Indian seals out through the windows, they added.
Repulsed by an unpleasant smell coming out from the fertiliser, the passengers got down from the train.
The agitating passengers alleged the smugglers carry Indian goods, including cloths, phensidyl, spices and fertilisers in trains on the rail route.
They stop the trains at their will at different places to load and unload the smuggled goods, alleged the agitators. Moreover, the border guards harass the passengers in the name of raiding the trains, they added.
The angry passengers withdrew the barricade after the railway authorities cleaned the compartments.