A tablet of powdered meth, commonly known as Yaba, which means 'crazy medicine' now goes for as little as Tk 150 or even Tk 25 at the Rohingya camps near the border with Myanmar, according to sources.
This amount is as little as one-fourth of what it used to cost a few years ago. A drug trader in the Geneva Camp at Mohammadpur told The Daily Observer that the price has dropped as a huge number of pills have flooded the market.
Sources say the majority of the Yaba consignments are entering the country through different points in Teknaf and Cox's Bazar. After entering the country, the Yaba consignments are first stored at the Rohingya camps. From there, those are smuggled to different parts of the country.
Now, increased vigilance by Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies along the Teknaf border, has led syndicates to adopt alternate routes.
The bulk of the Yaba tablets are now entering Bangladesh through the Naikhyangchhari upazila of Bandarban district, while the rest come via the Indian border.
According to the annual drug report of Bangladesh 2022 published by DNC, all agencies have seized around 21.66 crore Yaba pills in the last five years.
According to the DMP database, 3,675 narcotics cases were filed and around 5,022 people were arrested in the first three months of this year. During this period, police recovered 1.20 crore Yaba pills along with other drugs, the DMP data added.
The drug smugglers are using ingenious ways for transporting Yaba and mainly using poor women and children as drug mules to avoid suspicion and arrests, according to sources at the Rohingya camps.
A total of 70 lakh pieces of Yaba pills are being sold every day across the country. At the underground market, the retail price of each tablet is Tk 300 and, as such, Yaba worth Tk 210 crore is traded every day across the country, according to a top police official at the DMP.
Some 15 lakh Yaba pills are sold every day in the megacity of Dhaka. Its retail value won't be less than Tk 45 crore, police said.
Police say Yaba selling is being run by a huge number of strong syndicates. Besides, online Yaba hawking is also booming. In the case of online trading, it has been seen that only two or three pills could be recovered during any police drive.
"The government has adopted a 'zero tolerance policy' towards substance abuse," said another official, adding strong political commitment is needed to address the juggernauts of drug peddling.
Law enforcement agencies have attributed the surge and price drop to increased production of the drug in Myanmar under the patronisation of its junta government, a claim supported by reports published in international media.
Last month, the UN said law enforcement agencies across Southeast and East Asia netted nearly 172 tonnes of methamphetamine, the active ingredient of Yaba, in 2021 -- about seven times more than a decade ago. A piece of Yaba can be had for only Tk 25 at the Rohingya camps, he added.
Users and traders said the retail price for a small-sized Yaba is now Tk 70 to Tk 80, which was Tk 120 just two months ago.
The surge in supply has sent street prices in Thailand and Malaysia crashing to all-time lows, according to international media reports.
The reports said the Myanmar junta is protecting large-scale drug production to ensure stability in conflict zones as it faces a revolt against the 2021 coup.
This includes Shan State, Southeast Asia's primary source of methamphetamine, according to the United Nations. The reports correspond with the recent price drop in Bangladesh.
