The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) yesterday arrested a top yaba dealer along with five of his associates after a special drive in Chittagong and Gazipur. A total of 2,15,314 yaba tablets and Tk19 lakh were also recovered at that time.
“Based on an intelligence report, the RAB officials went on a drive on Thursday midnight and arrested drug kingpin Jahidul Islam alias Alo, 35, around 3am from the Moddhorampur Amin Contractor Road area of Halishahar, Chittagong,” said Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, RAB’s legal and media wing director.
“At that time, Alo’s driver Jashim Uddin Rana, 35, was also arrested from the spot with an imported pistol, a magazine, three rounds of bullets, 20,000 pieces of yaba tablets and a Toyota Premio car,” informed Mahmud Khan, addressing a briefing at the RAB headquarters in Uttara of the capital yesterday.
The RAB claimed that Alo was the leader of a smuggling gang and during the interrogation he gave out the address of a house where a huge quantity of yaba tablets was reserved.
The RAB raided the said house situated in the same area from where Alo was detained and found 1.90 lakh yaba tablets, cash Tk18.99 lakh, one motorbike, 37 mobile sets, 20 SIM cards, one video camera, two cameras, three laptops, various modern equipment to transport yaba and eight cheque books of various banks.
“We also arrested Abdul Malek Rasel, 27, Md Shahed, 24, Md Jabed, 25, and Md Jakir, 26, who worked as Alo’s associates,” Mahmud Khan said.
During the interrogation, Alo admitted that he was actively involved with yaba trading and sold the tablets in the capital and Chittagong area having brought the drugs from China and Myanmar.
He also declared that he had nearly Tk2.58 crore, collected by selling drugs, reserved in various banks.
Commander Mahmud said Alo had given them details of how uniquely yaba was smuggled into Bangladesh.
A well connected group of smugglers use fishing nets to smuggle yaba. Yaba tablets are concealed inside the plastic floats usually attached along the edges of a casting net to help it float.
Posing as fishermen, the smugglers cast the net as nearer to the maritime border area as possible and leave it there. After a while, another group from Bangladesh picks up the fishing net.
The net is then brought to the Chittagong port, where the yaba pills are collected from the floats and distributed across the country using various methods.
“On the information derived out of the arrestees, RAB officials conducted another drive at the Tempo Stand area of Tongi police station in Gazipur and dug out 5,000 more yaba tablets from there,” said Mahmud.
He further divulged that Alo, who had already been jailed once for the same offence, had been in the drug business for a long time.
Starting out with his brother-in-law Md Sagir, Alo soon made a huge syndicate of his own and expanded the network across the country, especially in Chittagong’s Baskhali, Anowara, Firingi Bazar area and in the capital, Dhaka.
“On August 2012, Sagir with arms and yaba tablets was arrested by law enforcers. And getting information from him, law enforcers arrested Alo later on. While in jail, Alo got connected with other drug dealers and started a full fledged business after securing bail four months later,” the media wing director said.
“We will continue the drive to trace the other members of the syndicate,” added Mahmud saying that legal action will be taken against the arrestees.
In a separate drive, police yesterday afternoon arrested a truck driver and his helper with 5,000 yaba tablets from Chittagong’s Chandanish upazila.
The arrestees were Md Abdur Rahman alias Monu, 36, son of Late Habibur Rahman, and Syedul Amin, 18, son of Md Sikdar, said police sources.
Both the arrestees hailed from Teknaf, said Sub-Inspector Dheman Majumdar of Chandanish police station.
SI Dheman said on receiving information, police raided a Patiya upazila bound salt laden truck on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar Highway in front of Gachbaria Government Degree College around 2:30pm.
Later police seized 5,000 tablets of yaba which were kept in a packet inside the salt consignment in the truck, the SI added.
A case was filed with Chandanish police station in this regard.
