Yaba trade on rise despite crackdown

There has been no respite in Yaba trade in the country despite a countrywide anti-drug operation since May last year.  
Reports from across the country show a significant rise in the Yaba trade after the crackdown started that has so far killed 150 people in gunfight over the last 15 months.
Anti-drug operation and the gunfights have just created panic and helped some quarters to earn quick bucks, sources in the intelligence agencies told The Daily observer on Friday.
Four forces and one agency are running the anti-narcotics drive in Cox's Bazar areas.
A section of officers of the law enforcement agencies in exchange for anonymity said the yaba 'godfathers' remained still untouched. The persons who have been killed are mostly drug carriers.
Members of Bangladesh Coast Guard recovered one lakh pieces of Yaba pills from Saint Martin's Island of Teknaf in Cox's Bazar on Thursday morning. Each day law enforcers recover Yaba tablets from Cox's Bazar areas.
Around 8 million contraband yaba tablets have been recovered from Teknaf over the last six months, according to the Cox's Bazar district police, Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) and others agencies.
Yaba smuggler Mujibur Rahman, one of the younger brothers of former MP Abdur Rahman Badi, has been playing a key role in running a drug syndicate, according to police.
A police source said the old dealers continue their business from outside his area. In some cases, the families of the surrendered persons continue with the business.
A high official of the Cox's Bazar police told the daily Observer that a dozen Yaba dealers in Myanmar send Yaba shipments to Bangladesh on receiving orders from these godfathers.    Some of the big dealers are now hiding at Gulshan in Dhaka and Narayanganj and are running their businesses from there.
The local people told The Daily Observer that former MP Abdur Rahman Badi brought many people into this business. He is also a vital factor in protecting them.
The 35 Yaba godfathers who have not surrendered are politicians and people's representatives. Some of them are close associates of Badi, Baharchhara Union Parishad Chairman Maulvi Aziz and former vice chairman Maulvi Rafiquddin.
Law enforcing agencies, including police, RAB, and BGB, started a nationwide anti-drug crackdown in May last year in which the achievement of police force is commendable.
Law enforcement agencies have been reporting death of 'drug dealers' in 'crossfire' almost every day since the nationwide drive against drugs began in May following a directive by the government.
The government said it would continue to show zero tolerance against drugs as it does against extremists.