Huge quantities of illegal drugs are being smuggled into the country through border points and its adjacent areas as drug dealers are stocking them ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of the Muslims.
Along with different products such as saris and three-pieces, illegal drugs are also entering the country as its demands go up three times during the Eid festival. The dealers are now busy stocking these drugs to meet the growing demand because as many as five million people of the country, particularly youths are drug addicts.
Sources said among illegal drugs, Phensidyl is at the top of the list while Yaba is in the 2nd position. Phensidyl and hemp are smuggled into the country from India while Yaba and heroin from Myanmar.
Major General Aziz Ahmed, director general of Border Guard Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune that their members remain alert to stop drug smuggling at borders. “Vigilance has already been increased to prevent all drugs from entering the country ahead of Eid.”
According to Family Health International, a voluntary organisation, there are over one lakh drug dealers in the country and of them, 10% are women. After getting information from this organisation and collecting data from 49 police stations of the capital, Department of Narcotics Control had already made a list of 116 drug dealers who were controlling the drug market in the city.
They are yet to confirm who are the godfathers behind these field level drug dealers. After dividing the city into 14 major sections, the DNC officials had already started conducting their drives to find out the dens of illegal drug dealers.
Pronab Kumar Niyogi, director (operations) of the DNC, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had launched special drive to stop drug sale and its use before Eid. “Vigilance has been increased in Gulshan and Banani areas as per the instructions issued from the Ministry of Home recently,” he said.
They met the director general of Border Security Force during his recent visit at Banglabandh border point, he said, adding that at that time, they also sought cooperation to stop smuggling of drugs into the country.
Most of drugs are entering the country through Benapole and Haridashpur points in Jessore, Kalaroa and Tala in Satkhira, Godagari and Poradah in Rajshahi, Sona Masjid in Chapainawabganj, Jibannagar in Kushtia, Akhaura in Comilla, Kasba in Brahmanbaria, Hili in Dinajpur, Bhurungamari in Kurigram and Jaflong in Sylhet. Besides, a huge amount of Yaba is entering the country from Cox’s Bazar.
There is no exact figure of drug users in the country. But according to Family Health International, it has crossed 50 lakh. The DNC officials said they were trying their best to control the illegal sale of drugs, but facing difficulties in dealing with it due to shortage of manpower.
At present, there are 32 types of drugs available in the country. These drugs include heroin, hemp, local and foreign wine, beer, rectified spirit, phensidyl, pethidine, morphine, yaba, viagra, sanagra and ethanol.
The investigation agency said due to absence of proper investigation and witnesses, it is not possible for them to submit charge sheets in most of the drug cases. Sometimes negligence of investigation officers also helps the drug dealers escape punishment.
According to sources in law enforcement agency, at least 30,000 drug cases are now pending across the country. Of them, police and Rapid Action Battalion are investigating 22,000 cases while DNC is investigating 7,815 cases. In most cases, local drug dealers are caught, but masterminds are at large.
Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, state minister for home, told the Dhaka Tribune that it is not possible to control drug smuggling only by enforcing laws. “Our law enforcers are doing their level best to check drug smuggling. Special drives in this regard are also underway,” he said.
He stressed the need for creating awareness among the country’s people about the harmful effects of drug use, saying that all should come forward to prevent drug abuse.
