Drug trafficking thrives in Bangladesh amid coronavirus pandemic
Published:
May 27, 2020 09:29:32
| Updated:
May 27, 2020 21:35:06
The coronavirus pandemic has stopped the world in its tracks, but drug traders in Bangladesh enjoy a booming business.
The police say incidents of drug cache seizure and arrest of drug trafficking suspects have even increased despite the lockdowns and closure of borders.
“The rate of other crimes has dropped, but the drug cartels are as active as they were before,” Shahbagh police chief Abul Hasan said.
Sarwar Bin Quasem, the spokesman for the Rapid Action Battalion, said they had arrested more drug suspects during the lockdown than they did in any other time, bdnews24.com reported.
The number of suspected drug traders arrested between Mar 1 and May 23 in Bangladesh was 1,535. The law enforcement made a total of 986 arrests in January and February.
The RAB seized around 1 million yaba pills, nearly 24,000 bottles of phensedyl and 10 kg of heroin in the Mar 1-May 23 period. The seizures in January and February totalled around half a million yaba pills, 16,000 bottles of phensedyl and 14kg heroin.
The seized drug hauls also included cannabis, wine, beer, pathogen injection ampoules, Viagra and other illicit drugs.
The drug traffickers are trying to outfox the law enforcement in different ways like using covers of food or emergency goods to transport the hauls, Sarwar said.
“But it has been easy for us to catch them because the roads are empty,” he added.
Sarwar said the number of deaths of suspects in anti-drug operations also rose. A total of 12 suspected drug dealers died in so-called gunfights amid the lockdown.
The Border Guard Bangladesh seized over 1.2 million yaba pills and more than 63,000 bottles of phensedyl in March and April. Methamphetamine-based yaba comes from Myanmar while cough syrup phensedyl, used as a drug, is smuggled in from India.
BGB’s Teknaf Battalion commander Lt Col Faisal Hasan Khan told bdnews24.com that they had initially faced problems carrying body searches on suspected smugglers as coming into close contact with others raised the risk of COVID-19 infection. “Now we are doing it following health guidelines,” he added.
Several large drug hauls have been seized in the last three months, Khorshed Alam, said assistant director at the Department of Narcotics Control.
He said the number of narcotics related cases has dropped in cities, but increased in the rural areas, especially along the borders.
