Yaba drug trafficking syndicates are still active though at least 214 drug peddlers have been killed after the law enforcers started a nationwide anti-drug crackdown in May.
Most of the listed drug traffickers have remained out of reach. At least 37,000 people were arrested and 28343 cases filed but a number of ruling Bangladesh Awami League leaders and their influential friends, who are officially named as 'godfathers' of Yaba smuggling are not among those killed or arrest.
At least four alleged Yaba peddlers were arrested from Rupganj in Narayanganj on Tuesday night. The Rapid Action Battalion also recovered 2.06 lakh Yaba pills hidden in a secret compartment of a covered van and in a spare tire of a truck.
The arrested are van driver Md Manik Mia, 27, and helper Md Arif, 22, and truck driver Md Masum Mia, 40, and helpers Md Abdul Khalek, 28. Manik, Md Arif, Masum hailed from Cumilla while Abdul Khalek is from Cox's Bazar, the RAB official said.
Both the vehicles, loaded with salt, started for Dhaka from Teknaf of Cox's Bazar last Friday, the RAB official said.
Two more drug traders were killed in two separate incidents of gun-battles in Rajshahi and Chandpur early Thursday. With this, the number of deaths stood at 214 across the country since May 12.
In Chandpur, a suspected drug peddler was killed in a gunfight with the members of police in Shahrasti upazila early hours of Thursday.
Officer-in-Charge of Shahrasti Police Station Md Mizanur Rahman said on a tip off that a gang of drug traders was sighted near the Chikunia Bridge area, a team of police conducted a
drive at about 1:30am.
When the team reached the scene, a gunfight broke out between the gang members and the law enforcers team.
Police, later, found the bullet-hit man and rushed him to Upazila Health Complex where the man succumbed to his wounds around 3:30am. A pipegun, six cartridges and 83 Yaba pills were recovered from the spot, the OC said.
Nazrul Islam, Officer-in-Charge of Charghat Police Station, at Rajshahi said Manik, 30, a suspected drug trader, son of Shahab Uddin of Natun Para in Charghat upazila, was killed in a gunfight with police at Muktarpur village early Thursday.
A team of police conducted a drive there around 2:45am.
Sensing presence of the law enforcers, the criminals opened fire on police, forcing them to fire back.
At one stage, Manik was caught in the line of fire and sustained bullet injuries. Later, he was taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital where doctors declared them dead. Manik was wanted in 13 cases, police said. One pistol, one bullet and 50 bottles of Phensidyl were recovered from the spot.
Bangladesh government's official data shows the total number of drug addicts in the country is more than 8 million and most of them consume Yaba. The law enforcement agencies have recovered more than 44 million pills of Yaba last year.
According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), only 10 per cent of total drugs are generally recovered in any country. By that estimate, 400 million Yaba pills worth Tk 60 billion are sold each year in the country. Law enforcers claim pills of around Tk 100 billion are sold each year in the local markets.
Such a huge turnout remains an incentive for smuggling Yaba despite the 'zero tolerance' policy by the law enforcers, said several officials of RAB and police. Yaba trade has turned out to be another normal business for many in Cox's Bazar.
