Reaz Uddin Bazar, the biggest wholesale market in Chittagong city, has become an illegal trade hub of smuggled products, scalped train tickets and stolen mobile phones.
Sources at the port city’s law enforcement agencies said the market has turned into a new crime zone, with around 200 shops – out of a total of around 3,000 – engaged in the illegal trade.
Considered one of the oldest and biggest wholesale markets in the country, Reaz Uddin Bazar houses around 5,000 traders with around 8,000 employees, according to Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP).
Trade body leaders in the market said staff of different shops were involved with such business, dodging their respective shop owners’ watch.
During a recent visit to the market, it was found that some shop owners were also running illegal business under their legal trading identities.
One such trader, Nowshadul Islam Nazrul, owner of a mobile phone shop, was nabbed by the Detective Branch (DB) of the CMP in August with stolen expensive mobile phones in his possession, said DB Sub-Inspector Shontosh Kumar Chakma.
His shop is blacklisted for trading stolen phones, he said.
There are at least 50 other shops in the market that do the business of stolen mobile phones and other valuables, like Azam Telecom and Modern Electronics, the sub-inspector said.
Shops like Style Collection, Rana Enterprise, Manasee Store, and ABS Garments are well-known for with train ticket scalping, according to a DB report.
As far as illegal drugs are concerned, Karim Super Market and Mohammadia Plaza in the market is known as Yaba Market, while Shyamoli Residential Hotel and Garden Hotel are the exhibition spots for drugs, and Al Salamat Hotel, Shah Amanat Market and Fruit Goli are infamous for open drug peddling, police sources said.
Acknowledging the police findings about drug peddling in the market, SM Yakub, general secretary Reaz Uddin Bazar Bonik Kolyan Shomiti, told the Dhaka Tribune that the organisation had already taken action against the shop owners involved in such illegal work.
“We have informed police to conduct drives in the areas to stop them,” he said.
A safe haven for yaba business
The Dhaka Tribune found that Nurunnabi, former joint secretary of Reaz Uddin Bazar Dokan Kormochari Shomiti, controls the yaba peddling in the market, while his brother-in-law Anwar assists him and his employee Jahid takes care of the supply.
Market sources said Nurunnabi had been expelled from the organisation due to his illegal activities, but that only made him more arrogant about his business.
Joynal Abedin, president of the organisation, said Nurunnabi’s misdeeds had defamed the organisation which is why they requested police to take action against him.
“Our organisation is not responsible for him,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
However, Nurunnabi’s dominance over the yaba scene is under threat as the syndicate of Monaiya, a local resident, and Jahed, son of listed drug smuggler Shutki Rafiq, is trying to take control of the yaba peddling, according to a police source.
They bring yaba pills and other drugs hidden in fruit-carrying trucks and pick-ups, in collaboration with fruit traders in the market’s adjoining fruit market, said a Kotwali police official, seeking anonymity.
The syndicate’s cohorts supply the drugs to Karim Super Market and Mohammadia Plaza, he said.
Known drug traders include Enam, Shahjahan, Kader, Dibba Babul, three siblings Kamal, Nesar and Armar, Lomba Mizan and his brother Masum, and Kala Zahid.
All of these drug dealers were arrested by law enforces more than once, but they managed to bail out of prison, said police sources.
Admitting that the entire market had indeed become a safe haven for drug dealing, Mahbubul Alam, president of Bonik Kolyan Shomiti, said they frequently advised the traders to refrain from illegal activities, but in vain.
Banaj Kumar Majumder, acting commissioner of the CMP, said they were conducting drives in the market with the help of the trade body leaders to prevent the illegal businesses in the market.
“These drives will continue until this matter is resolved,” he said.
