A section of yaba dealers in Cox’s Bazar is likely to surrender to law enforcement agencies at the end of January or in the first week of February. According to sources in Cox's Bazar, 87 yaba traders are willing to surrender. They are already on the list of drug peddlers drawn up by the government with inputs from various intelligence and law enforcement agencies. For fear crackdown by law enforcement agencies, many drug dealers seem to prefer staying in jail for their own safety, said the sources. In the latest report by human rights campaigner, Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), said incidents of extrajudicial killing were rising alarmingly, especially after the anti-drug drives began. In all, 466 people have been killed in countrywide anti-drug raids conducted by law enforcement agencies between May 4 and December 31 last year, according to the ASK report.
From January 4 to January 12, 2019, around nine suspected yaba traders have been killed in nine days in an anti-drug drive in Cox’s Bazar. Two of them died in a gunfight with the police, two with RAB, two with the BGB and three of them were found dead with bullet injuries. Law enforcement agencies claimed all of them were yaba traders and that a huge amount of yaba tablets and arms were seized.
Several drugs, terrorism and extortion cases were filed against each of them. Their names are on the list made by the Ministry of Home Affairs, said police sources.
In 2018, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members seized smuggled goods and other contraband items, including yaba tablets and Phensidyl syrup, worth around Tk. 903.74 crore, during its countrywide anti-smuggling drives.
Contraband drugs included 12,658,518 yaba tablets, 359,150 bottles of Phensidyl syrup, 33.351 kg of heroin, 13,682 kg of cannabis, 79,286 bottles of foreign wine, 36,435 cans of bear and 19,448 sedative injections.
Sources at the BGB headquarters said the paramilitary
force seized smuggled goods worth around Tk. 1,217.55 crore in 2017 and Tk. 1,161.67 crore in 2016.
The BGB also handed over 2,705 people to local police stations for their alleged involvement in smuggling and 1,316 others for illegal border crossing from January 1 to December 31, 2018.
Early on January 13 this year, the BGB
seized around 1.20 lakh yaba pills, worth
Tk. 3.60 crore, from the Alir Dail area in
Teknaf upazila.
According to sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs, at least 60 top drug dealers and 1,151 drug peddlers were identified by the ministry. Of them, 800 peddlers are from Teknaf and the rest from different upazilas of Cox’s Bazar district.
“Listed smugglers of illegal drugs were gathering in the district amidst an ongoing anti-drug raid. I asked the police to prepare details of the identities of the yaba traders,” home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told journalists.
“We will go to Cox’s Bazar on the 30th of January or in the first week of February,” said the minister.
As most of the listed drug dealers and peddlers have fled the area and are currently in hiding, none of the suspects can be arrested, claimed the Cox’s Bazar police.
“Several smugglers have contacted law enforcement agencies. They want to surrender. The matter is being discussed in the top levels of administration, but no exact number can be disclosed as of now,” ABM Masud Hossain, superintendent of police of Cox’s Bazar, told The Independent.
“To prevent the drug business across the country, we will work with commitment under the new government,” DNC director general Jamal Uddin Bhuiyan told The Independent, adding that the department has held several meetings with home minister Asaduzzaman Khan in this regard.
“We have declared jihad against the drug business. We have already directed all DNC officials to take measures against drugs,” he said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced a “war on drugs” in May 2018 after a reported rise in the sale and use of methamphetamine.
Following the announcement, law enforcement agencies launched a nationwide anti-drug drive. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) launched its drive on May 4 and the police on May 18.
Recently, Teknaf Sadar Upazila Parishad member Enamul Haque surrendered to the police by making an announcement on Facebook. The police said he has over a dozen cases against him.
The development came within a week after former Cox’s Bazar-4 lawmaker Abdur Rahman Badi, who is also facing allegations of involvement in yaba trade, asked yaba traders at Teknaf and Ukhia upazila to surrender within five days.
On January 11, the former MP asked
the enlisted drug traders to surrender
within the time, or face terrible conse-
quences. He also urged them to communicate with him, saying he would help them surrender.
Last year, Bodi faced huge criticism for his alleged involvement in yaba trade, following which the AL nominated his wife, Shahin Akhter, for the constituency in his place to contest the 11th national elections.