Yaba traders of Cox's Bazar's Teknaf have been surreptitiously attempting to sell their illegally- acquired possessions.
After some listed yaba traders' properties and wealth were confiscated—following the traders’ arrests and surrender—they are attempting to sell their remaining assets, while in police custody.
However, the deputy commissioner said that not just yaba traders, but, no one has the possibility of secretly selling their property.
For the past few months, yaba traders have become quite anxious due to constant raids and drives by law enforcement agencies.
Around 39 drug traders have died in Teknaf. However, drives to arrest these traders lulled after the death of Awami League leader and Teknaf Municipal Councillor Ekramul Haque.
Locals believe that the listed yaba traders were involved in the murder of Ekramul.
Taking advantage of the situation, the drug traders started to return to the area and planned to sell their illegally-acquired wealth.
Residences of yaba traders in Teknaf's: Moulvipara, Nazirapara, Shilboniapara, Mithapanir Chhara, Lomboripara, Jaliyapara, and Shahporir Dwip, have been locked; some even have “to let” signboards hanging from them.
Local sources said Noor Mohammad, a listed yaba trader on the list made by the Home Ministry, tried to sell his two-storey building, built on a stretch of 40 decimals of land, many times.
However, he went into hiding, along with his family, because law enforcement was after them.
A distant relative of drug trader Noor Mohammad, Mohammad Faruk, said Noor has hiked the price of his building to Tk3 crore and did not sell it for an offered Tk1 crore.
He said Noor's son-in-law Mahmud Ali was attempting to sell his property on Noor's behalf.
Another drug trader, Ziaur Rahman, before being killed in a reported gunfight with police, had attempted to sell his two-storey building worth nearly Tk3 crore, adjacent to the Nazirapara graveyard.
His neighbour, Shamsul Alam, said many potential buyers came to purchase the house, and one even set a price of Tk50 lakh, but he did not sell the edifice.
Ziaur's mother, Noor Begum, said she will put all his wealth and property, including the building, up for sale.
Commenting on the matter, Cox's Bazar Additional Superintendent of Police Md Iqbal Hossain said he was not aware that yaba traders are trying to sell their assets.
"However, if the issue proves to be true, we will quickly investigate the matter and take action against them," he added.
Requesting to remain anonymous, a police official of the district said: "We have received in-formation about yaba traders attempting to put their properties on the market, therefore, we are monitoring them.
"We wanted to confiscate them, however some organizations, including the Anti-Corruption Commission and National Board of Revenue want to investigate the matter. Meanwhile, the CID [Criminal Investigation Department] has already petitioned the court to seize the properties of yaba trader Nurul Islam Bhutto."
Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md Kamal Hossain said: "There is no possibility for anyone to sell their properties in secret. If anyone wants to put their property up for sale, then they will need the approval of the deputy commissioner's office."
He said legal action will be taken against the yaba traders if they try to sell their assets without a permit.
In 2018, the names of 1,151 yaba traders from Cox's Bazar and Teknaf appeared on the latest Home Ministry yaba-trader list.
The list contains names of various leaders of Awami League, BNP, and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
After launching a primary investigation, law enforcement agencies discovered that these yaba traders are immensely wealthy.
