Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said that the government has planned to set up closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in bordering Naf River, located in south-eastern Cox’s Bazar, aiming to check the influx of contraband yaba tablets from Myanmar.
“The Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) is yet to set up CCTV cameras along Naf River, but it has a plan to install the cameras, drug detectors, scanner machines and other modern equipment there to prevent the smuggling of yaba pills from Myanmar,” he told parliament on Thursday.
The minister’s remarks came in response to a starred question placed by Jatiya Party lawmaker Md Mujibul Haque of Kishoreganj 3 constituency in the House.
Besides, Kamal said, the government has planned to procure speedboats to strengthen surveillance along the Naf River so that yaba pills could not enter the Bangladesh territory.
He said building a drug-free Bangladesh was a big challenge for the government, but it has taken various steps to keep the country’s young generation away from drugs.
“The government has taken zero tolerance policy against drug and the policy will continue,” he said, adding that the DNC, police, Border Guard Bangladesh, Rapid Action Battalion and Bangladesh Coast Guard were working restlessly to implement the policy.
The home minister also said that an action plan was being implemented with an aim to completely remove drugs from the society.
In 2018, the members of law enforcement agencies filed 119,878 cases against 161,323 people, he said.
“In 2018, they seized about 69.1 million yaba pills, 450 kilograms of heroin, 60,343 kilograms of marijuana and over 718,000 bottles of phensedyl,” he added.
Kamal said that as per the decision of the enforcement committee, the government has already formed a core committee and a taskforce involving the DNC and law enforcement agencies to stop the yaba smuggling in Cox’s Bazar.
