A record recovery of Yaba pills in Teknaf and Cox's Bazar this month proves the government agencies running the anti-narcotic drive have miserably failed to stem the flow of the contraband stimulants from across the border.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) recovered around 10 lakh pieces of Yaba pills in the last 25 days. It has been 15 months that the so-called crackdown on drugs has been going on and in Cox's Bazar alone 204 suspected drug traders have been killed in so-called gunfights.
How could such a large quantity of Yaba pills be recovered during the ongoing drive against drug traders? Those running the anti-narcotics drives do not have a clear answer to this question.
Now the question rises who were involved in smuggling the drug into Teknaf and Cox's Bazar in the last two years and who were those 204 people who were killed in gunfights with police? Interestingly, police have recovered a small amount of Yaba pills, while other forces have recovered a huge amount of the contraband drug from the same area.
According to sources, the police were more active in encounters with drug traders in Cox's Bazar than in the recovery of the consignments of Yaba pills being smuggled into the country.
The police came under strong criticism for the killing of Maj (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan on July 31. Following this, the police headquarters decided to reshuffle the district police. As a result, as of Friday, 1,413 policemen were transferred to different locations from the region.
After the killing of Sinha police also tried to implicate him in Yaba trade. ABM Masud Hossain, former SP and the top law enforcing authority of the district, identified slain Maj (retd) Sinha as involved in such illegal business.
With the consent of SP Masud, a narcotics case was also filed against Sinha and his associates. Police also showed the recovery of 50 pieces of Yaba pills from Sinha's rented Nilima resort.
BGB recovered 3.50 lakh pieces of Yaba pills, worth Tk 10.50 crore, in a drive at Leda Churikhal area in Teknaf Upazila of Cox's Bazar on Tuesday night.
Acting on a tip off that a large consignment of Yaba pills from Myanmar will enter through Leda Churikhal border, a team of BGB under Leda BOP, conducted a drive in the area. At one stage, they challenged a boat carrying some people.
Sensing the presence of the border guards, the suspected smugglers managed to flee the spot. Later, the BGB members recovered four plastic bags from the boat. Some 3.50 lakh pieces of Yaba pills, worth Tk 10.50 crore, were found in the bags. However, it was not possible to detain anyone at that time.
BGB seized 1.2 lakh pieces of Yaba pills worth Tk 3.6 crore from near Naf River along the border area in Teknaf Upazila of Cox's Bazar on September 9.
Earlier on September 3. BGB, during a routine patrol, recovered 424,000 Yaba pills worth Tk 12.72 crore from Teknaf Upazila of Cox's Bazar.
Drug traffickers have benefitted from over stretched law enforcement manpower during the Covid-19 pandemic, and they have changed their tactics to suit the situation.
Heroin, Yaba, and phensedyl are being smuggled in ambulances or crates of fruits and vegetables. Sometimes the crates are even marked as relief supplies.
The seizure of illegal drug shipments had dropped after the country went into Covid-19 lockdown from mid-March. But Police, RAB, and the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), are now once again ramping up anti-drug activities in Dhaka and Cox's Bazar.
