Police yesterday and on Wednesday night arrested five persons in separate drives from different areas of Chittagong and seized 15,000 Yaba pills, 30 kilogrammes of marijuana and 30 litres of liquor from their possession.
Law enforcement agencies estimated that the seized contraband was worth Tk48.09 lakh.
Karnaphuli police station officers nabbed a truck driver and a Yaba peddler from Chittagong city’s Moijjartek area near Shah Amanat Bridge on Wednesday at around 10:15pm as they were entering the port city with 15,000 pieces of Yaba hidden in an empty gas cylinder attached to the truck, police said.
The arrestees, Abul Kashem, 40, and Ali Hossain, 31, are both from Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar district, said Assistant Commissioner (AC) Mohammad Jahangir of Port Circle of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP).
Akbar Shah police station officers nabbed Azizul Islam, 45, of Matlob, Chandpur district, with 30 kilogrammes of marijuana from the City Gate area yesterday at around 6am. He was detained while unloading the contraband from the storage space of a passenger bus from Chandpur and packing it into sacks, Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdul Majid of Akbar Shah police station said.
CMP authorities held a press conference at CMP headquarters yesterday around 11:30am where CMP Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam said police had discovered the city’s drug spots and the increased number of drug recoveries was the result of more targeted drives.
CMP Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operation) Banaz Kumar Majumder and Deputy Commissioner (Port Zone) Saiful Islam were present at the press conference.
Satkania police station officers nabbed two people, Md Jalil, 30, and Babul, 40, from in front of the Satkania Resort, a community centre in the Keranirhat area of Satkania upazila on Wednesday night as the duo attempted to sell 30 litres of liquor brought from Potiya upazila, said OC Khaled Hossain of Satkania police station.
Three cases were lodged with the respective police stations.