As part of the ongoing countrywide anti-narcotics drive, a 300-strong team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) raided the Nama Para slum in the capital’s Gendaria neighborhood on Thursday, and detained 28 suspected drug dealers and addicts.
“About 300 policemen from three police stations took part in the operation that started at 11am and continued until 12:30pm,” DMP Deputy Commissioner (Wari division), Mohammad Farid Uddin, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“Nama Para slum is a safe haven for hijackers and drug peddlers. We conducted the drive to arrest them and prevent drug peddling in the area,” he added.
Two hundred contraband yaba pills, 225 vials of pethidine, 30 kgs of marijuana, and 700 puriyas (small packets) of heroin were also recovered from the slum.
Locals and some police officials said on condition of anonymity that the amount of narcotics recovered was very small compared to the number of police taking part in the operation.
Since police made a prior announcement about their operations, drug dealers who live in the slum, fled before the operation started, leaving behind their personal possessions and drugs, they added.
Many of the slum dwellers faced harassment while some were arrested as the raid was conducted at random, locals said.
Earlier, police made similar announcements by loudspeaker before they launched their operations in the Karwan Bazar, Korail, and Dhalpur slums, and Mohammadpur's Geneva Camp, making it easy for many of the top drug dealers of these settlements to go into hiding.
Police holding some of the people arrested on Thursday | Dhaka Tribune
Around 56 people, including three women, were arrested from Dhalpur on Monday, and about 50 from Karwan Bazar on Sunday.
The anti-narcotics crackdown followed the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who recently ordered the RAB to continue its drives against drug abuse as this menace is spreading fast in society.
“We’ve been able to achieve huge successes by conducting drives against extremism and militancy. Now, such drives will have to continue against drug abuse,” she told the 14th founding anniversary of RAB at its headquarters in Dhaka on May 3.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told an event yesterday that “we have waged war on drugs to purge the country of narcotics.”
“Even if security forces detain many suspects, innocent people among detainees are released following verification. No drug dealer will be spared, but we don’t want innocent people harassed during such operations.”
Over 110 people have been killed and more than 10,000 detained in the crackdown launched early last month.