Smugglers using modified motorbikes to smuggle it
They called it "Phensedyl bike".
Though it looks just like a common motorbike, these have an additional chamber inside the fuel tank that can keep around 70 bottles of Phensedyl inside.
With an aim to dodge law enforcers, narcotics traders have prepared such special arrangement in motorbikes to transport the contraband drug.
The smugglers only choose 150CC motorbikes for the purpose, as these bikes have a big fuel tank and a chamber can easily be made inside it.
Even after making a chamber in the tank, they can refill three to four litres of fuel in the tank for their journey from one place to another, without raising any alarm.
Police's detective branch (DB) has claimed to have learned about these special bikes following arrest of a narcotics smuggler from the capital's Jatrabari area on Monday.
Based on a specific tip-off that a smuggler was coming to Dhaka from Chuadanga with Phensedyl on a motorbike, DB police arrested its driver Sirajul Islam.
But searching his bike and bag, they did not find any Phensedyl. The biker then brought allegations of harassment against the DB team.
The DB team then called on a motorbike mechanic and asked to dismantle the bike. Around 20 minutes later, they found some 70 bottles of Phensedyl inside a special chamber in the oil tank of the bike.
Junaed Alam Sarker, additional deputy commissioner of DB police who led the drive, later shared his experience with The Daily Star.
He said they later interrogated the arrestee on remand, and came to know that the syndicate has around 10 such special motorbikes, which they use to smuggle Phensedyl directly from the bordering point of Chuadanga district.
"The syndicate's members load the bottles into the bike from a mechanic's shop in Darshana. Later, they drive to Dhaka and unload the package again in a mechanic's shop in Jatrabari," said the officer.
For the journey, the biker has to refuel three to four times, as they are not able to refill more than four litres at a time, said the officer.
"Arrestee Sirajul is also a motor mechanic, and during interrogation, he admitted that he transported three of four such phensedyl consignments to Dhaka," he said.
Quoting the arrestee, Junaed further said that the syndicate also have some eight to ten more bikers, and send shipments from the bordering district to Dhaka five times a week. For each shipment, a biker receives around Tk 4,000-5,000, DB said.
Asked about the price of Phensedyl, ADC Junaed said the smugglers buy each bottle for Tk 600 to 700 in Chuadanga. In Dhaka, the "wholesale" price of each bottle becomes Tk 950 to 1,100, he said.
These bottles are later sold to addicts for Tk 1,700 to 1,900, he added.
DB officials said that they have come to know that peddlers used to smuggle Phensedyl to Dhaka in pick-up vans or trucks earlier, after hiding those inside vegetables or other products.
But it became risky in recent times as they have to count a huge loss when their consignments are intercepted by law enforcers.
For this reason, the smugglers have taken the strategy of smuggling small shipments to Dhaka so that they do not need to count huge loss even if gets seized, said DB police.
Mashiur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Gulshan Division Police, said the smugglers have recently changed their strategy to smuggle narcotics to Dhaka.
"They are now focusing on bringing small consignments instead of big ones, so that it cannot be detected by law enforcers," he said.
"We have already got details of the Phesedyl smuggling syndicate members, and are now conducting drives to arrest them," added DC Mashiur.
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