The drug trafficking business in Teknaf is so flexible that traders do not even need any investment to get involved. Even traders carrying or transporting the drug would not have to pay a dime if they got caught by law enforcers along with the drug consignments.
The main job of a local drug dealer in Teknaf is to sell the drug and submit the cash to a certain individual running the show in a particular area, and then receive a hefty commission from that person. That is why despite law enforcing agencies’ ongoing anti-narcotic drives, the locals in Teknaf are still attracted to yaba trading – because it promises more money with little work, said locals on condition of anonymity.
Explaining the process, several residents concerned of Teknaf said: “Yaba pills are sent to Bangladesh from Myanmar in consignments. These consignments then reach designated drug lords in the area dodging the law enforcing agencies concerned. But if a drug-hauler gets caught by law enforcers then he/she does not have to pay the price of the seized consignments. They only have to pay the price of the drug that had been sold safely to consumers.”
“The payment system for drug trading is very simple too. Yaba kingpins in Teknaf do not send cash directly to Myanmar. The money goes to countries like Singapore or Dubai at first and then travels to Myanmar. There are designated agents for collecting the payments here. Drug lords have been running this show not only from Teknaf but also from other places in the country including Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and Dhaka. They are doing it under the cover of legal businesses, and the huge amount of drug money is being laundered in overseas countries like Dubai or Singapore. That is how the trading of yaba has been and still is expanding.”
The people concerned said though 102 yaba traders have surrendered in Teknaf, the masterminds and big-shots are still sitting behind the curtain. If the kingpins are not caught then it will be difficult to bring down the yaba empire in Bangladesh.
However, this is the first time a huge group of drug traders have surrendered to law enforcers.
A total of 102 yaba dealers and smugglers have officially surrendered to police with 350,000 yaba tablets and 30 firearms in front of Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal at an event in Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar on Saturday.
The unprecedented event, aimed to help criminals pay their debt to society and return to normal life, was organized at the Teknaf Pilot High School grounds on Saturday.
Inspector General of Police Md Javed Patwary, center and flanked by Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal . hands over a flower to a surrendering Yaba dealer at a ceremony in Cox's Bazar Teknaf on February 16, 2019 | Focus Bangla However, locals are saying that the majority of yaba and hundi traders are still hiding in the dark.
Citing several yaba traders who had surrendered, a police official of Cox’s Bazar district, on terms of anonymity, said: “Big fish godfathers are still at large. They are the ones who run the show from behind the stage. They smuggle large yaba consignments and collect cash, among other things, using field-level agents.”
“Even though it is being said that those who had surrendered are top yaba traders, in reality there is a powerful gang lurking behind the scene. Their names have not even reached the home ministry’s list of drug traders. They have been conducting the business using locals in Teknaf for long time now,” said the police official.
He further said: “Law enforcers have already got the names of around 30 agents from the confessions made by the yaba traders who surrendered Saturday. The agents collect and launder the cash from here to the masterminds living in countries like Dubai and Singapore. From there, the money then goes to Myanmar as drug payments.
“A circle of Hundi businessmen are running the game under the shadow of expatriate drug kingpins. Already some drug traders have returned from Dubai and Singapore to surrender to police. Now the biggest challenge for the law enforcement agencies is to identify the off-stage masterminds of yaba trading,” he added.
According to multiple local sources, TT Zafar is holding the top spot among yaba traders in Teknaf. A 10-member team of Zafar’s collects the drug money in Teknaf. The team includes: Taher and Osman of Jaliapara, Abdul Ali, Lenga Kamal, Saiful, Khurshid, Ishak, Yasin, Tikka Quader of Godar Bill and Osman of Satkania.
Moreover, a bakery in Lamarbazar of Teknaf, and a clothing shop and a bKash agency in Jhautala area of Cox’s Bazar, have been identified as involved in the process. However, they are all staying out of law enforcers’ reach.
Cox’s Bazar Superintendent of Police (SP) ABM Masud Hossain said: “With the mass surrender of the yaba traders, the drives against yaba will be further strengthened.”
“Freeing the country from the grip of yaba is our moral duty. Now drives will be conducted against those who had not yet surrendered. No one, irrespective of how powerful they are, will be spared,” he added.
Meanwhile, some influential people notorious for their involvement in yaba trading are still remaining out of reach.
They are: former Cox’s Bazar lawmaker Abdur Rahman Bodi, his brother councillor Moulvi Mujibur Rahman, Yaba don Hazi Saiful Karim, Baharchara UP Chairman Moulvi Aziz Uddin, Upazila Vice-Chairman Rafiq Uddin, Teknaf’s Nurul Haq Bhutto and Siddique Ahmed.
People concerned believe that if these marked yaba traders are not brought under justice, the yaba curtailing situation will soon turn into a terrible shape.
The Home Ministry previously released a list of names of yaba dealers, which had 1,151 names of criminals from Cox’s Bazar, 73 of which were marked as kingpins.
The list also included the name of former MP Bodi and 26 members of his family. Names of many leaders from Awami League, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami were on the list as well.
