Wayside bookshops in front of the Balaka Cinema Hall and the Bakushah Market get abuzz with people of all ages, having easy access to porn overdose.

A visit to the area shows businesspeople have piled up a huge collection of local and foreign pornographic magazines like Playboy.

Azim (not his real name), a regular customer, considers pornography one of the best sources of recreation at low cost.

"It feeds my sexual fantasy and I buy these books and magazines. I am not committing a crime," said the class IX student of Government Laboratory High School, annoyed at a query.

Nilkhet is a hub of pirated audio and video CDs with most VCDs X-rated -- banned items that come mainly from Singapore.

The businesspeople say they have customers of all ages and do not think it illegal. They believe this is part of basic human need.

"Our customers include the police too. They take the material away without payment and sometimes return them," a businessman said, feeling no remorse at his clandestine work. "This is a kind of bribe."

But Officer-in-Charge of Dhanmondi Police Station Zafar Ullah denied the allegation and said they often raid the shops, file charges and send them to court. "But the culprits get out on bail and return to the old business," he said.

"It is next to impossible to stop this business. The flow of material is incessant and sources are quite open. Either production of such material should be stopped or the import banned to sweep clean the practice," he said.

The source of most material is local anonymous publishers while some come from India by road, a businessman said. "We also buy foreign adult magazines from other suppliers," he said.

Some material also comes from different diplomatic offices through middlemen. "Material is brought in immune diplomatic bags for personal use. Once the use is over, middlemen (mainly Bangladeshi junior staff) collect them and sell them out," another seller said.

A porn book sells as low as Tk 15 and as high as Tk 600 and the buyer can get a refund of up to 50 percent on returning the book in good reusable condition.