A total of 27 police personnel have been sent to jail over alleged involvement in drug-related activities in the past two months, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ali Hossain Fakir has said.
Emphasizing the need to clean up the police force first to eliminate drugs, he called on the public to help law enforcement agencies by providing information, reports Bangla Tribune.
He made the comments while addressing a community policing rally against drugs, terrorism, extortion, corruption, juvenile gangs and extremism at the Bagerhat Police Lines auditorium on Sunday afternoon.
The IGP stressed that the police force must first cleanse itself before tackling drugs in the country. He also urged the public to provide the police with necessary information to make anti-drug operations successful.
Expressing concern over the spread of drugs across the country, Ali Hossain Fakir said he believed drug dens had been established in various areas under government patronage over the past 17 years. The police and the public must work together to dismantle these networks, he added.
Highlighting a shortage of police personnel, the IGP said the country currently had around 215,000 police members. Although the government planned to recruit 20,000 personnel this year, there was insufficient infrastructure to train such a large number at once.
He said new training centres were needed and called on everyone to work together to ensure the country's development and prosperity.
The IGP also said special committees had been formed, comprising upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs) and officers-in-charge (OCs) of police stations, to curb juvenile gang activities.
The committees will operate from the district to the union level. He expressed hope that information provided by local residents would help identify and prevent criminal activities involving juveniles.
Announcing plans to establish a specialised unit to combat cybercrime, the police chief said it would work to prevent the spread of rumours online and incidents of mob violence.
Identifying unemployment as one of the key reasons young people become involved in crime, Ali Hossain Fakir said around 2.7 million people in the country face unemployment every year.
He stressed the need to create jobs for this working-age population, adding that new employment opportunities would not emerge unless businesses increased investment.
Asked about former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's return to Bangladesh, the IGP said neither the administration nor community police had any concern about who would or would not return to the country.