Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
At least 32 types of drugs, mainly heroin, Yaba, cocaine and phensidyl are transported to remote areas from cities and towns and it has already created panic among guardians, law enforcers and countrymen, said the sources close to the Department of Narcotics Control.
Even the demand, use, trading and smuggling of the drugs are increasing alarmingly day by day, they said.
These drugs enter the country through 51 points of the 31 bordering districts under political influence and with the help of a section of police personnel, according to them.
As a result, different crimes including killings, assault and trafficking have spread across the country. The DNC, Police, Rapid Action Battalion, Border Guard Bangladesh and Coast Guard have not been able to check massive consumption of drugs from urban to rural areas, they further said. In this context, a three-day international conference participated by the 14 countries’ Police chiefs will begin today in Dhaka. In the conference, possible preventive measures against drug trading will be discussed, Police Headquarters sources said. They said that police have already prepared a draft in this regard for approval in the conference. According to them, heroin is produced in North Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and India which is generally trafficked abroad through Kolkata, Madras and Mumbai routes of India and through Thailand and Myanmar. But the International drug barons and the Mafia network also find Bangladesh as a safe and alternate trafficking route when the Indian and Myanmar routes become risky.
Feni Additional Police Superintendent Kazi Moniruzzaman said that law enforcers have become alert after a Ansar member named Nowsher Ali was killed in a clash with the criminals in a border area of Fulgazi Upazila on Wednesday night.
A drug peddler said, “The Yaba traders take the items first to Cox’s Bazar, then to Chittagong and from there to other parts of the country after managing all others.” Most addicts take five to 10 pills at a time,” the peddler said. But hardened addicts can take 25 to 30 pills, he said.
When contacted, Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque identified the drug as the country’s top problem and said that cops have been doing hard to stop using and trading of drugs across the country. The conference will give focus on fight against extremism and drugs through cooperation among the South Asian nations, the IGP said.He urged all to raise voice against drug addiction and to help the law enforcers check the alarming use.
Admitting the increase of trans-border drugs smuggling, Major General Abul Hossain, Director General of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), said, “It is not possible for BGB alone to check drug smuggling through the huge bordering areas. The Civil Administration and others have to cooperate with us in this regard. The BGB, however, will show zero tolerance to drugs smuggling.”
Refuting the claim, Director General of DNC Khandakar Rakibur Rahman told The New Nation recently, “Drug trading is still rampant in the country. Police may claim that drug trading is under their control, but we do not think so. We are trying to bring the situation under control despite constraint.” “Of course, the demand, consumption, trading and smuggling of the drugs are increasing day by day across the country. It is impossible to prevent drug smuggling by the Department alone, as the main job thereof is to prevent and control drug trafficking,” the DG said. He also said, we should remain more alert on the border areas to check the smuggling of drugs. Agency adds: Chiefs of Police and other law enforcement agencies of South Asia and neighbouring countries will meet here on Sunday to discuss a regional strategy to combat militancy, extremism and other types of transnational crimes. Bangladesh Police, in collaboration with INTERPOL, is organizing the three-day Chiefs of Police Conference for the first time in the country with the aim of increasing regional law enforcement cooperation, AKM Shahidur Rahman, Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Media) of Police headquarters, said.
Chiefs of Police and law enforcement agencies or their representatives from 14 countries including Afghanistan, Australia, Bhutan, Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, will take part. Besides, high officials of Interpol, Facebook, American IGCI and FBI, and ASEANPOL and International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) will attend the conference, he said. Officials are expected to address violent extremism, trafficking in human beings, financial crime and offences related to terrorist financing, drug trafficking and illegal small arms trade at the conference, Shahidur Rahman said. About the objective of the conference, the DIG (Media) said the regional conference has been organized to find ways to strengthen existing relationships among the law enforcement agencies in the region alongside making a regional strategy to combat, militancy, extremism and other types of transnational crimes.
Top law enforcement officials will attempt to develop a common platform to cooperate in a prompt and effective manner as needed to combat terrorism and transnational crime in the region, he said.
Since countries of this region share a common socio-cultural and economic pattern of life as well as similarities in the nature and characteristics of offences, there is a need to develop a common mechanism to fight cross-border crime and militancy, he said.
