At least 123 drug dealers and smugglers have so far surrendered to police and despite killing of 500 drug runners smuggling of different harmful drugs, including Yaba pills, into the country is still rampant.
Nearly 500 suspected drug dealers were killed during the countrywide massive anti-narcotic crackdown since May of 2018. Of them, over 172 were from Teknaf around the Rohingya camp areas. Some 26,000 people were arrested, out of which a few were Rohingyas. Last January, ten drug dealers have died in alleged gunfights with police, BGB and RAB members said.
Twenty-one Yaba traders have surrendered to the police in the second phase of the surrender programme arranged at Teknaf Govt Degree College in Cox's Bazar on Monday. Earlier, 102 Yaba traders have surrendered to the police at Cox's Bazar.
Meanwhile, the law enforcers have failed to find out the 'godfather' of the Indo-Bangla border drug trade.
Despite surveillance in border areas, smuggling of the deadly Yaba into the country is still going on through different land and water routes on the border points in Cox's Bazar from neighbouring Myanmar, detective sources said.
Smuggling of Yaba is still going on as over 3,000 listed drug traffickers remain at large, detective sources added.
Some 102 listed drug smugglers including 16 relatives of ex-lawmaker Abdur Rahman Bodi believed to be one of the main drug lords surrendered to the authorities recently. But more than 1,151 listed drug smugglers based at Teknaf in Cox's Bazar are absconding. Of them, 73 are identified as 'top Yaba bosses'.
A section of officers of the law enforcement agencies seeking anonymity said the Yaba 'godfather' still remained untouched. The persons who have been killed are mostly drug carriers.
They are also being awarded various terms of imprisonment on charges of carrying drugs. But most of them return to the trade after coming out of jail on bail, he added.
Around 3,000 traders, with 350 'godfathers', control the business across the country. They are on the lists of various government forces, and the lists are updated by the Home Ministry annually.
According to the sources, four brands of Yaba tablets-'007', 'Champa', 'WY' and 'Neela'-were being smuggled from across the Indo-Bangla border.
Of these, the 007 tablets are costlier than the others. They are pink in colour and sell between Tk 500 and Tk 600 each. The colour of the Champa brand is light pink and each tablet sells between Tk 350 and Tk 500. The WY tablets are also light in colour and cost from Tk 150 to Tk 200 each, BGB sources said.
Pradeep Kumar Das Officer-in-Charge of Teknaf Model Police Station, said, "The 'war' against drugs has been going on over last few years. On January, 10 drug dealers have died in alleged gunfights with police, BGB and RAB members. Six of them are Rohingya refugees.
