Behrampore, July 11: A newly elected Congress panchayat member of a Murshidabad village has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle 1,000 bottles of Phensydyl, a cough syrup often taken by drug addicts, to Bangladesh.

Rokibur Rahaman was caught along with his brother Habibur and a smuggler with police records, Ehsan Ali, on Wednesday at Radhakantapur village in the Lalgola area of Murshidabad, close to the border.

BSF jawans found a carton stuffed with the bottles under the rear seat of their Sumo. The three were handed over to Lalgola police, as was their driver, Somen Sen.

Yesterday, a court remanded the four in three days of police custody. “We had prior information that a group of miscreants in a white Sumo will try to smuggle 2,500 bottles of Phensydyl. So, we were waiting at Madhupur on Wednesday evening,” said Dilbag Singh Sindhu, the BSF’s deputy-inspector general in the Behrampore sector.

According to Ranjan Sheikh, a tea stall owner who saw the vehicle being intercepted around 6pm, Rokibur asked the jawans “not to touch” the Sumo.

“The panchayat member screamed at the jawans, asking them not to touch the vehicle since he was a panchayat member. He pulled out documents but the jawans insisted on the search,” said Ranjan.

Realising he would not get his way, Rokibur started walking away but one of the jawans held him back. “We asked the others to step out, searched the Sumo and found the bottles tucked under the rear seat,” another BSF official said. Rokibur and Habibur don’t have criminal records, the police said, but Ehsan had been arrested earlier.

“They will be produced in court again tomorrow for carrying drugs without proper licence,” said Subrata Majumdar, officer-in-charge of Lalgola police station. Murshidabad Congress leaders alleged that Rokibur had been “framed”.