Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and Coast Guard in a joint operation detained 16 suspected drug dealers and seized four lakh pieces of Yaba tablets from the Bay of Bengal near Kuakata of Patuakhali.
According to a media release issued on Friday and signed by Lt Com Tanvir Azmal Hridoy, staff officer of the Coast Guard South Zone, the operation continued for the past two days.
The joint forces intercepted a fishing trawler near Lambur forest area and recovered 100,000 pieces of Yaba pills kept in a sack on Thursday night, said the press release.
16 suspects were detained from the trawler.
Moreover, 300,000 Yaba pills were found abandoned in three sacks within the Lambur forest on Wednesday.
The suspects are residents of Noakhali, Chattogram, and Cox’s Bazar districts.
Under Operation Devil Hunt, the Rab and the Coast Guard conducted the joint operation in the sear and recovered the Yaba pills transported from Cox’s Bazar, read the release.
The detainees were handed over to Mohipur police station and a case was filed in this regard, it added.