Bangladesh hands another list of secret yaba labs to Myanmar

The Department of Narcotics Control handed over a list of 49 clandestine labs in Myanmar to that country's Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC), hoping that they would take stern actions to stop yaba smuggling into Bangladesh.

"We have handed over the list to Myanmar's anti-narcotics authorities based on our intelligence information," Muhammed Ahsanul Jabbar, director general of DNC, said yesterday.

The DNC handed over the list during the fourth bilateral talks between DNC and CCDAC, held online this year, titled "Prevention of Illicit trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances".

The last bilateral meeting was held in 2017.

Ahsanul briefed the media after the meeting.

The DNC had handed over such lists of clandestine labs to Myanmar several times before, but no visible action was taken at the time.

The DNC authorities, however, have expressed satisfaction over promises from Myanmar counterpart CCDAC.

During the briefing, DNC DG Ahsanul said they are quite optimistic about Myanmar's promises to curb yaba pills from coming into the country through the shared border.

"Myanmar's CCDAC informed us and also shared photos of operations and seizure of record numbers of narcotics, including yaba, in the last 11 months of the year. They are also fighting the enemy -- drugs -- and we are hopeful of positive outcomes of the promises," he said.

Myanmar authorities informed Bangladesh that according to their data, there are 3.5 lakh drug addicts in their country, said the DNC chief.

In the joint meeting, Myanmar authorities even said they have raided in different clandestine labs in Maungdaw, Rakhine and Shan states based on Bangladeshi information, said the DNC chief.

In the conference, CCDAC informed that they seized over 31 crore yaba tablets and filed around 7,549 cases in the first 11 months of the year, said Manjurul Islam, a deputy director of DNC.

Both agencies agreed to share intelligence about the smuggling of the main chemical of yaba -- amphetamine.

The CCDAC claimed that amphetamine was mainly smuggled from China and Thailand to Myanmar and said they would conduct drives against smuggling of the chemical, said DNC officials, quoting the CCDAC authorities as saying.

The DNC and the CCDAC further agreed to start joint-border patrol and establish liaison offices to stop the smuggling of yaba tablets into Bangladesh.

Both the authorities also promised greater intelligence sharing and vigilance on the Naf river to check the smuggling, said DNC officials, who attended the bilateral talks.

There were also discussions on joint-border patrol by Border Guard Bangladesh and Myanmar's Border Guard Police and on establishing more liaison offices.

However, the DNC authorities could not clarify the timeframe to start joint-border patrol and liaison offices, saying that they had not yet talked to the home ministry and other authorities concerned about it.

The DNC DG further said they told Myanmar that Bangladesh is not a drug-producing country, but transnational syndicates are using Bangladesh as a route to smuggle yaba and other drugs after smuggling it into the country from Myanmar.

He sought stronger and swifter action from Myanmar to check the smuggling.