Two flats in a posh area of the capital, an SUV and a whopping sum of money – accumulating all this in just three years was a piece of cake for Abdullah Zubayer, simply because he ran a very lucrative business.
Although illegal, his products sold like hotcakes and he was never caught by police. This sense of impunity served as an irresistible temptation, and Zubayer decided to take up a daunting challenge – to set up a plant in Gulshan to produce the synthetic drug yaba instead of importing from Myanmar.
The son of a rich man in Chittagong, Zubayer was also planning to hire people to operate the machines at the planned factory.
But yaba trader Zubayer’s plans were nipped in the bud when he, along with his three cronies, was arrested by police around 7pm on Sunday in Khilgaon. Md Asaduzzaman, DB assistant commissioner, led the drive.
The three are Ayub Ali, 45, Shamshul Alam, 24, and Mostakin Hossain, 32. They were carrying 55,000 yaba pills and parts for a yaba-producing machine.
However, another Murad, 32, managed to flee. They were on their way to Zubayer’s residence in his SUV when they were held.
“During interrogation, we learned that Zubayer would import three or four consignments of yaba from Myanmar. If the demand was high, he would just double the number,” Jahangir Hossain Matubbar, deputy commissioner of DB (east), told reporters at the DMP media centre yesterday.
“Zubayer would sell yaba pills in a number of districts and also in the capital. Each of the tablets earned him Tk50 in profit. Within three years, he raked in a huge profit,” he said.
Zubayer planned to set up the yaba factory in one of his flats. “He bought machine from Myanmar for Tk20 lakh. To dodge the police, his accomplices were carrying parts of the machines separately,” he said.
“Zubayer decided to set up the factory as he thought producing yaba would allow him to make larger profits, and would diminish the risk associated with the illegal trade. Besides, he had connections with yaba manufacturers in Myanmar,” the DB official said.
Zubayer said he had studied in Darjeeling of India. After finishing his college education, he returned home as he had become addicted. His father Zahir owns Zahir Tower, a commercial building at Dampara in Chittagong.
A BRTA official told the Dhaka Tribune the registration number of Zubayer’s car was fake. The arrestees were produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka and they were put on a seven-day remand each.
