Arifur Rahman Rabbi :
Smuggling of Yaba pills continues unabated across the country despite the government’s zero tolerance policy on drugs.
In 2018, the government declared a war against drugs across the country and launched a major antinarcotics ‘crackdown’ in mid-May, in response to a surging trade of “Yaba”.
Several hundreds of accused drug dealers were killed and thousands were arrested in all over the country, but drug trade remained unstoppable.
On Wednesday, a suspected drug trader named Delowar Hossain, 28, was killed in a reported gunfight with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Ramu upazila of Cox’s Bazar.
RAB-7 Deputy Commander Major Mushfiqur Rahman said 400,000 Yaba pills, a pistol, and four rounds of bullets were recovered from the spot.
The law enforcement agencies have launched an all-out anti-narcotics operation with special focus on eradicating methamphetamine tablet known as Yaba which is being mainly trafficked into Bangladesh through Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf areas from neighboring Myanmar.
Many suspected drug dealers were killed during encounter with law enforcers in Cox’s Bazar. But the drug trafficking situation in the bordering district is yet to reach a tolerable level raising question about the success of the government’s ongoing war on drugs.
Sources said, Yaba is coming through 55 points of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. The major illegal Yaba shipment is done through the Teknaf and Ukhia areas of Cox’s Bazar.
Observers said Yaba trading declined at the beginning of the operation, but it rose again during the ongoing pandemic when dealers applied new tricks in yaba trafficking from Cox’s Bazar to Dhaka.
In the last six months, the anti-narcotics raids have been reduced, the accused drug traders have been released on bail and the fugitives have returned to their areas, sources said.
In fact, the drug ‘lords’ have been in hideouts and about three dozens drug traders are in the scene to import Yaba from Mianmar and trade it from Teknaf, Ukhia and Cox’s Bazar.
However, intelligence agencies said drug traffickers are adopting new strategies in trafficking Yaba. Many illegal shipments are being seized even after resorting to new tactics
According to the Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), 929 people were killed in gunfight from 2018 to 2020. But ASK did not clear how many drug traders were there. Among them, 287 people were killed by RAB while 561 by police, 75 by BGB and six by other law enforcing agencies.
The people say that the law enforcers were busy handling the Coronavirus situation. Drug traffickers are exploiting that opportunity and sprang with their consignments using different tactics in this Corona epidemic.
The price of various drugs including Yaba has been increased almost twice. After purchase at Tk 200-300 Yaba is sold at Tk 600-700.
This reporter found a similar situation in a number of drug spots and went visiting them in disguise. Not only the capital, but also the whole country has the same situation.
RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Lt Col Ashik Billah told The New Nation that the supply of drugs has been increased for more demand. For their activities, drug trading continues at a higher price. That means they are disrupting the drug supply route. As a result, the price has gone up.
The law enforcement as well as RAB have declared war on drugs. Yet seizing large quantities of drugs are coming, he said.
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) conducted 6,873 raids in 2020 and arrested 12,039 dealers while filed 6,478 cases against them. RAB recovered 96,59,321 pieces of Yaba pills in this time.
Meanwhile, according to the Department of Narcotics Control, 56583 operations were done in 2020. At that time there were 14656 cases where the numbers of accused were 15750 and 16,97,207 pieces of Yaba pills were recovered during this period.
On the other hand, the BGB recovered 1,10,65,456 pieces of Yaba in 2020, while Dhaka Metropolitan Police registerred 12619 cases in 2020.
Police sources said the Rohingya people have been involved in yaba pill smuggling since they arrived in Bangladesh. They are recklessly carrying on the illegal trading.
Occasionally, law enforcement arrests traffickers based on information provided by sources, but the original Yaba godfathers remain out of reach. As a result, yaba trade is not going to be stopped in any way.
Ukhia Police’s OC Ahmed Sanjur Morshed said that he has been conducting various awareness activities against Yaba to make the local people aware since he joined. He is encouraging the youths to attend sports and also motivating the local people against drugs by attending various meetings and seminars, Juma prayers and Waz Mahfils.
Above all, it is difficult for the police alone to stop drugs if the local people are not aware, he added.
