The focus of the Bangladesh government's anti-drugs drive would seem to have shifted gears on Monday. Barring any late-night bravura, the country was finally able to pass an entire day without the police or other agencies testing the limits of the law, on their treatment of fellow citizens as part of this drive.
But June 4th already felt an age away from May 15th, the last such day. As part of the ongoing anti-narcotics drive, law enforcers arrested a total of 224 individuals during raids that occurred throughout Monday in seven districts of the country.
With arrests as the farthest they could go, noticeably there was a preponderance of addicts as opposed to traders or peddlers among those locked up on Monday.
According to reports from the districts till Monday evening, the highest number of arrests, 96, was made in Khulna. Forty were held from Satkhira, thirty-seven were arrested in Jhenidah, 31 from Nilphamari, and 16 of the arrests occurred in northern district Sherpur. Dhaka, Rajshahi, and Chapainawabganj districts recorded an arrest each as part of the drive.
In Khulna, 96 people including 16 drug traders were arrested from different places in the district.
Police also seized 50gm hemp, 27 Yaba pills, one litre alcohol and a motor-cycle from their procession.
In Satkhira, police arrested 40, including seven suspected drug traders, in an overnight anti-drug drive in different parts of the district till Monday morning.
Of them, six each were arrested from Sadar, Kolaroa and Shyamnagar upazilas, five from Tala upazila, seven from Kaliganj upazila, five from Ashashuni upazila, three from Debhata upazila and two from Patkelghata upazila, said Ajam Khan, inspector of Satkhira district special branch. Police also recovered 249 bottles of Phensidyl.
In Jhenidah, 38 people were arrested in special drive from different places in the district. Among the detainees 11 were from Sadar upazila, 10 from Sailakupa, 5 from Harinakunda, 6 from Kaliganj, 4 from Kotchandpur, and 1 from Moheshpur, UP member Bablu Sardar, police said. Another mobile court awarded six month jail to a drug trader Abul Hossain in Moheshpur, district narcotics Control department officer Rasel Ali said.
In Nilphamari, 31 people were arrested from different areas in the district, said senior assistant police superintendent Altaf Hossain.
In Sherpur, 16 people including drug addicts and drug traders were held from different places in the district in special drive, said Md Aminul Islam, additional police superintendent of Sadar circle.
In Dhaka, Detectives arrested an on-duty Ansar member along with some Yaba tablets from Dhaka Medical College Hospital early Monday.
The Ansar member was identified as Asad Miah, 35. Bacchu Miah, sub-inspector of DMCH police outpost, said a team of Detective Branch of police arrested Asad from the Ansar camp of DMCH around 1 am with the Yaba tablets.
Moreover in Rajshahi, police in a drive arrested a suspected drug trader from Tatarpur area of Charghatupazila on Sunday night.
A team of police conducted the drive around 10 pm and arrested Moktar Hossain, son of Saidur Rahman of Chamta village, along with a foreign pistol and 200 Yaba pills, said Md Shahidullah, superintendent of Rajshahi Police.
Moktar is accused in eight cases, according to SP Shahidullah.
In Chapainawabganj, police arrested a man with 450 bottles of banned codeine-based cough syrup Phensedyl from Kansat area of Shibganj upazila. He was identified as Edul Haque, 35.
Sub-inspector Jewel Islam confirmed the arrest, reports UNB.