128 drug peddlers, addicts surrender to Barisal police

With a vow to return to normalcy, a total of 128 drug dealers and addicts surrendered to police in Barisal yesterday.

They surrendered to the deputy inspector general of police (DIG), Barisal range at a programme arranged by the district police at Barisal Police Lines around noon.

Md Shafiqul Islam, DIG of Barisal range, also distributed 58 sewing machines among them.

Saiful Islam, Barisal district superintendent of police, presided over the ceremony where district and sessions judge Syed Enayet Hossain and upazila chairmen were present among others.

The DIG said they introduced the programme to rehabilitate the addicts and peddlers through employment and other support. “We'll also arrange monitoring programmes for them...”

However, some of the persons who surrendered claimed that their names were given to police by some of the locals out of enmity.

When asked, police said they would verify the claim and if found to be true the names will be scrapped from the list of the peddlers and addicts.

Earlier, DIG Md Shafiqul Islam took similar initiatives in Rajshahi while serving as commissioner of its metropolitan police.