ACCORDING to latest news reports, a 26-year old resident living around Tejgaon Rly Station slum stabbed his pregnant wife with scissors and killed their unborn baby in a fit of drug-induced rage. The man is a known Yaba addict and even though married with two children, he stopped supporting his family and sold off his shop and shanty to support his drug habit. The gruesome incident shows how drug related crime is breaking family life and endangering safety of innocent people around us. The wife has been admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for treatment. As per her disclosure the husband asked her to work as a garment worker or domestic help after spending all the money on Yaba and when she refused to work outdoor to take care of her young children, he beat her mercilessly. Later on he suggested selling one of their children and thus the wife left him and went to live with her relative. He chased the at relative’s house, stabbed the relative and then stabbed his wife in the abdomen killing her unborn baby.
It comes as no shock that Yaba drove the man to such atrocities; its dreaded consequences are already known to all. Drug ‘madness’ is causing paranoia, violent behaviour and psychosis in the addicts spoiling their life and the families they come from. Yaba was initially introduced in Bangladesh in 2006 and then its use like a flame in entertainment industry and the youth from the rich and poor families as a cover to their frustration from joblessness to many other evils. Even though most Yaba is produced in Myanmar, factories have sprung up in Teknaf to meet growing demand in Bangladesh. Local influential persons and political leaders owned most such facilities and promoting its distribution network throughout the country. There is no secret that some officials of local administration and law enforcing agencies are closely involved in protecting the illegal trade turning it into a billion dollar business. Yaba syndicates have their selling agents at every level down to city lanes and village corners and the stabbing of a hapless wife and the killing of an unborn baby by the addict father shows how the drug addiction is destroying the foundation of our social fabrics.
It is high time people tend to believe the government should start a crash programme to wipe-out supply network of Yaba and such other drugs to stop further criminalization of the society. For that the supply source must be stopped and there is no alternative to taking the issue with Myanmar government to secure its cooperation to stop the cross border trade. It may be difficult but to be pursued. Moreover, local supply syndicates must be destroyed and to make it a success, the government must stop sheltering political elements engaged in the trade.
