A total of 6,615 yaba pills were recovered from the stomachs of two children allegedly used by a drug trafficking gang to smuggle the pills from Cox’s Bazar to Chittagong.
The children were taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital on Monday after Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained them and a woman at a checkpost in Anwara upazila on Sunday.
Doctors confirmed through X-rays that the children were carrying yaba pills inside their stomachs. The pills were later recovered through bowel movements, RAB said.
Lieutenant Tawhidul Islam, commander of a RAB-7 camp, said a gang had allegedly been using children to smuggle drugs along the Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong route for a long time.
“RAB had been monitoring the matter based on intelligence information,” he said.
Acting on the information, RAB set up a checkpost in the Sarkarhat area of Anwara on Sunday. During the operation, members of the elite force arrested Sharmin Akter, a resident of Chakaria, from a CNG-run auto-rickshaw. The two children travelling with her were also detained.
According to RAB, Sharmin admitted during initial interrogation that the children were carrying yaba pills inside their stomachs.
The children are residents of Alikadam in Bandarban, RAB said.
The gang allegedly lured the children into smuggling by promising to cover their families’ expenses and pay them Tk 8,000. Sharmin was accompanying them to avoid arousing suspicion, according to RAB.
Citing doctors, Tawhidul said the children had been at serious risk because of the yaba pills inside their stomachs.
RAB is conducting an operation to arrest other members of the trafficking gang, he said.
Tawhidul urged parents to remain vigilant and prevent drug traffickers from exploiting children for smuggling.