The big fish, among the drug dealers, are escaping the dragnet despite the recent bloody crackdown on the menace by the law enforcers. At least 57 alleged drug peddlers died in "gunfights" in the last 21 days, drawing criticism and concerns from rights activists.
According to our correspondents fresh incidents of "gunfights" have been reported from Dinajpur, Cumilla, Feni, Chuadanga, Narayanganj, Chattogram, Brahmanbaria, Netrokona, Mymensingh, Barisal, Jashore Dinajpur and Tangail. But none was killed in Dhaka city, the Yaba hub.
Intelligence agencies, say they estimated around 60 per cent of the country's
youths are now addicted to drugs - marijuana, heroin, phensidyl, alcohol and Yaba - and their number is increasing. Of them 96 per cent are now addicted to Yaba pills.
Drug dons allegedly spend crores of taka to buy the silence and protection of law enforcement officials and ruling party men.
Officials at the Police Headquarters in Dhaka told the Daily Observer, requesting anonymity, that the country's "billion dollar" drug trade is largely controlled by godfathers having links to some influential in society.
Meanwhile, it is widely alleged that there is a "buying-selling" exchange going on between some law enforcers and the drug dealers. The booty is also shared with people sitting on the upper rungs of the administration.
Police sources said stern action is not possible as a vital portion of the ruling party men and the law enforcers have become involved in drug business.
To protect high-value and high-risk drug consignments, official emblems, official vehicles and even officials themselves are pressed into service of the drug trafficking syndicates.
Law enforcement sources said there were around 38 yaba factories along the border with Myanmar, reportedly capable of producing three million tablets a day, and 40 phensedyl factories along the Indian border.
Smugglers are recruiting Imams, snake charmers, trans-genders, physically disabled people, women and even children to work as 'mules' or carriers of drugs.
Human-rights activist Sultana Kamal has demanded fresh investigations into the recent killings in alleged shootouts during anti-drug raids.
According to the police and RAB, the drug dealers first opened fire, forcing the law enforcers to retaliate. But some families of the deceased have claimed they were detained from home before the shootouts.
The human-rights activist also said every one, no matter what offence he or she commits, has the right to justice. "They (drug traffickers) must be tried in line with the law of the land. The guilty should be handed the penalty they deserve."
