The spread of selling drugs hasn’t been reduced despite countrywide regular anti-drug drives. The usage of drugs in the country including the capital Dhaka is increased alarmingly. The drugs are coming into the country even after the border was sealed. And the sales of drugs are conducted applying secret techniques like what we see in thriller movies.

The pieces of yaba reach to the customers after being exchanged through a few parties. Some powerful people or syndicates are behind this trade. However, many men raised questions over the role of law enforcing agencies in this regard.

The members of law enforcing agencies said the amount of yaba seized after its entry through the border was insignificant. The seized yaba pieces are usually comes through Cox’s Bazar-Myanmar border. However, the law enforcing agencies haven’t been able to keep pace with the newer techniques applied by the traffickers.

According to the Directorate of Narcotics Control, a total of 25 crore 88 lakh 97 thousands and 570 pieces of Yaba have been confiscated across the country by police, RAB, BGB, Coast Guard and Narcotics Directorate. In 2020, 3 crore 63 lakh 81 thousand and 17 pieces, in 2021 5 crore 30 lakh 73 thousand 665 pieces and in 2022 4 crore 58 lakh 68 thousand 569 pieces of yaba were confiscated. In this connection, a total of 6, 29,751 cases were filed and 8, 17,533 people were arrested.

According to the report of the Directorate of Narcotics Control (DNC) published last year on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, smuggling cannot be controlled as 15 yaba smuggling routes from Myanmar through Cox's Bazar and Bandarban are impassable. Yaba is being produced in factories in Shan and Cochin provinces of Myanmar. Out of these 15 points, 10 are in Cox's Bazar and five are on the Bandarban border. Apart from this, due to strict search by the law enforcement forces, Yaba traders have also changed their route recently. By changing strategy, they have chosen seven new routes to smuggle yaba from Myanmar to Bangladesh. These include two routes to Tripura via neighboring Mizoram, Assam and Manipur and five routes to Bandarban, Cox's Bazar, Barisal, Jessore and Satkhira.

Azizul Islam, additional director general of Directorate Narcotics Control told this reporter, "We are all active in law enforcement to prevent the smuggling of Yaba. A special task force has also been formed in Cox's Bazar to prevent yaba smuggling. Because of our drive, we’ve confiscated huge amounts of yaba.”

Talking to the officials of DNC, police and RAB, its known that traders are taking advantage of business transactions conducted with Myanmar. Yaba tablets are easily portable. Basically, this business is running within the country in the cutout method. Carrier doesn’t initially know who will receive it subsequently. At present, the trend of carrying Yaba inside the stomach of the people involved in smuggling is rising. Besides, yaba is carried along with various goods including onions, brinjals, furniture, tree trunks etc. By no means its possible to identify them by carrying out a simple search during transportation unless information is received in advance from the source.

Again, even after the arrest of those carrying yaba in their stomachs, the people of the law-enforcing agencies are facing tough challenges. Extracting yaba from the stomach is risky. In August last year, a person fell ill in Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court (CMM) in the capital and died. Laterly, after doing an autopsy, a half-molten residue of yaba was found in his stomach. The capital is one of the retial markets of Yaba-selling. Dhaka is also being used as a transit to spread it across the country.

@The report was published in Bengali on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on March 13 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque