A new mystery has emerged in the smuggling of yaba from Myanmar to Bangladesh that drug mafias disguise themselves as fishermen and transport yaba from border waters, which can be easily done during the fishing season but difficult in during ban on fishing.
Drug mafias of Bangladesh disguise themselves as fishermen in fishing trawlers and supply yaba to Chattogram’s Anwara, Banshkhali, Sitakundu, Fisheri Ghat, Bridge Ghat, Majhirghat, Barisal, Khulna, Barguna, Narayanganj and various port areas.
Professor Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury, former Vice-Chancellor of Chittagong University (CU) said, monitoring by installing GPRS on fish trawlers will enable legal action to be taken by identifying trawlers carrying yaba.
Mojibur Rahman Patwari, additional director Narcotics Control Department Chattogram said, yaba smuggling mostly happening in sea. For that, yaba traffic reduced during ban on fishing. We are working on it.
Yaba smuggling remain low during the fishing ban in the sea. At this time, the amount of yaba rescue also decreased on land. After the lifting of the ban on fishing, the yaba flow from Myanmar increase again.
The government imposed a 65-day ban on fishing in the sea to protect the country's fishery resources and fish propagation. Which started from midnight on May 19 and ended on July 23.
During the ban on fishing in the sea, the Department of Narcotics Control Chattogram region seized 3, 66,768 pieces of yaba in March. 2,05,864 piece in April, 3, 50, 526 piece in May, 2, 40, 471 in June, 1, 65, 98 in July.
Number of seized Yaba tripled in August, the month after the ban at sea was lifted. In this month, 4, 41, 573 pieces of yaba were seized by the Department of Narcotics Control, Chattogram Region.
From January 1 to September 30, RAB-7 seized 37, 48, 568 pieces of yaba by carrying out more than 150 raids in different areas of Chattogram.
During normal times, an average of 4.5 lakh pieces of yaba are seized, but during the fishing ban, it comes down to 2.5 lakh.
Multiple law enforcement officials said on condition of anonymity, fishing trawlers do not go to sea during the ban. As a result trawlers carrying yaba cannot go to Myanmar border to bring yaba shipment.
@The article appeared on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on October 3, 2022 and rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan.
