Cops in yaba business!

A syndicate consisting of some unscrupulous policemen has been involved in yaba (derivative of amphetamines) smuggling on Cox's Bazar-Dhaka route for at least a year, according to Rapid Action Battalion.

The syndicate members are of Special Branch (SB) of police in Dhaka, Chittagong district range police, and Detective Branch (DB) of police in Cox's Bazar. They were using their professional identity as shield for their illicit trade, Rab officials claimed.

Rab-7 seized a large consignment of yaba pills and arrested ASI Mahfuz Ur Rahman, 35, of SB, Dhaka, and his driver Jabed Ali, 29, in Feni Saturday night.

Rab seized a car, after it was involved in a traffic accident, and found the pills in the vehicle which led to the unravelling of the syndicate. 

The arrestees were shipping around 6.8 lakh of the pills, worth Tk 27.20 crore on the street, in a car owned by Mahfuz's father, said a top Rab official in Chittagong.

Quoting Mahfuz, Rab-7 Assistant Director Sohel Mahmud said Mahfuz got the consignment from SI Belal of Cox's Bazar DB on Saturday.

The consignment was supposed to reach an SB constable and some of Belal's friends in Dhaka, added the Rab official.

Belal and SI Ashique, in charge of Kumira camp of Chittagong district highway police, had told Mahfuz to carry the pills, the Rab official said.

When asked, Ashique denied his involvement in the syndicate and said he did not know Mahfuz.

A reporter of The Daily Star called Belal on his mobile phone several 

times but he did not pick up. His phone was switched off later on.

Muhammad Shamsul Alam Sarker, additional superintendent of police in Feni, said they heard about the arrest but Rab was yet to hand over the detainees as of yesterday afternoon, reports a correspondent in Feni.

A press note singed by Maj Mozammel Hossain, Rab-7 company commander in Feni, said a black Toyota Allion hit a boy at Lalpool area on Dhaka-Chittagong highway around 11:30pm Saturday.

Rab personnel on duty there chased the car down and seized it. They found the pills in the car.

Rab-7 also seized Tk seven lakh, four mobile phones, eight ATM cards and three note books from the detainees.

Our Chittagong correspondent reports: Rab-7 in the note books found names of 14 people from whom Mahfuz took around Tk 28.44 crore in advance for yaba smuggling.

During primary interrogation, Mahfuz admitted that he got to know some yaba traders while he was posted at the Waikong Police Outpost in Teknaf between 2011 and 2013, sources said.

Whishing not to be named, a top Rab-7 official said Mahfuz owns a two-storey building and 10 to 12 shops at Sonir Akhra near the capital. He also owns three shops in Gulistan area.

Asked, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told a TV channel that action would be taken against the accused as per the police law.

“Police has rules and regulation. The arrestee will be tried as per the police law. And proper action will be ensured through investigation,” he said.

photo on page 2           see page 11 col 1