From heartbreak to crime: Youth arrested for setting up Yaba factory

Police have uncovered an unconventional Yaba manufacturing facility set up inside a residential house in Tongi, Gazipur. The individual behind it, 32-year-old Nazmul Islam Bappi, reportedly turned to drugs following a failed romantic relationship that left him deeply traumatized. He then learned to establish a home-made laboratory and production facility for Yaba from the internet, specifically via Facebook and YouTube,. 

Acting on a tip-off, police conducted a raid around 1:30 AM on Friday night, arresting Bappi and seizing a large quantity of equipment used for manufacturing the drug. 

The incident took place in the Pagar Alektek area, under the jurisdiction of the Tongi East Police Station in Gazipur Metropolitan. The arrested man, Nazmul Islam Bappi, is the son of Taijul Islam, a resident of the area. Bappi had set up the secret laboratory on the fourth floor of his own four-story residential building.

According to the Tongi East Police, the property had been under surveillance for several days. The raid was carried out at approximately 1:30 AM on Friday, October 30.

A hidden room, functioning as a laboratory, had been constructed deep within the fourth floor, designed in such a way that it was completely undetectable from the outside.

During the search, police seized various pieces of machinery, a significant stock of hazardous chemicals, and raw materials used in the production of Yaba.

In his initial interrogation, Nazmul Islam Bappi confessed to the crime, stating, "I returned to the country from abroad a few years ago. I then started a relationship with a young woman. However, the relationship soon fell apart, leaving me with severe emotional trauma. To cope with the mental anguish, I began using drugs. Later, I decided to manufacture Yaba for commercial purposes. I learned the formula and the specific chemicals required by researching on the internet, Facebook, and YouTube. Following this, I procured the necessary chemicals and equipment from the market and set up this production facility in a secret room within my own home." 

Regarding the operation, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Tongi East Police Station, Mohammad Maksudul Alam, stated, "We received a tip-off that drugs were being manufactured in complete secrecy within a residential building in the Pagar area. Acting on this information, a special team of ours had been keeping the house under surveillance for the past few days. Late Friday night, based on precise intelligence, we conducted a raid on the fourth floor of the building. We discovered a highly sophisticated, clandestine laboratory, one that would have been extremely difficult for an untrained person to identify. Chemicals and machinery used for producing Yaba were seized from the site. Bappi himself admitted to sourcing these materials by researching online. Legal proceedings are currently underway to file a case against him under the Narcotics Control Act."

The police stated that a further investigation has been launched to determine whether others are involved in this syndicate, or if the Yaba produced by Bappi was being distributed to the market through an established network.

-    RKM/NS