More yaba godfathers, dealers to surrender

Police are making preparations for a second surrender programme of yaba godfathers and dealers in Cox’s Bazar.

The programme might be held soon after the Eid-ul-Fitr, which would be observed either on June 5 or 6, said police sources.

Some narcotics traders are maintaining contact with law enforcers through a local journalist, who is acting as an intermediary, for the surrender.

Earlier on February 16, as many as 102 narcos had formally surrendered to law enforcers at a programme at Teknaf Pilot High School. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, IGP Mohammad Javed Patwary and other top officials of law enforcement agencies were present.

The home minister and the IGP would also join the second surrender pro-gramme, said police officials.

Meanwhile, Hazi Saiful Karim, one of the top yaba dealers of the country, may surrender this time, said sources at Cox’s Bazar police.

Family members claimed that Saiful was already in police custody, but the law enforcers had not disclosed the information.

Mohammad Iqbal Hossain, additional superintendent of police in Cox’s Ba-zar, said they had no knowledge of Saiful’s arrest.

The narco dealer has been on the run for about a year. His name came to light in 2017 after police recovered a yaba manufacturing machine from a Pajero jeep in the capital’s Shajahanpur area.

Following an investigation, police came to know that the machine was owned by Saiful.

Police and locals said Saiful’s ancestral home is in Myanmar. His father Md Hanif came to Bangladesh before the country’s independence in 1971.

Saiful started work as a day labourer in Chattogram city sometime between 1998 and1999. At that time, he came in contact with yaba dealers from Myanmar’s Maungdaw.

In 2000, he started a business as a clearing and forwarding (C&F) agent at Teknaf land port. But he mainly ran yaba trade in the name of C&F busi-ness, the sources told The Daily Star.

Since then, Saiful created a big network of yaba trade across the country and became a millionaire within a couple of years.

He received backing from some local influential politicians and officials of law enforcement agencies in exchange for money, locals alleged.

Saiful became so dominant that no drug case was filed against him before last year although he had been involved in drug trade since 2000.