39,000 yaba pills seized from export cargo at airport

Members of Aviation Security (AVSEC) recovered around 39,000 pieces of yaba tablets during a security screening at the export cargo of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Thursday night.

The pills were found inside a consignment of garment items bound for Saudi Arabia, Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, director of the airport, told the media yesterday.

Further details of the recovery of the contraband pills could not be known yet.

Earlier on September 9, AVSEC officials and customs authorities at the airport conducted a drive at the export cargo village of the airport and seized 12.32kg amphetamine powder specially packed in a consignment of clothes for export.

A transnational syndicate is allegedly using Bangladesh as a route to smuggle amphetamine powder to other countries, after smuggling it from India, according to law enforcers.

They are using Dhaka airport and international courier service to send the powder out of the country.

Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) said this following an investigation.

Law enforcers so far managed to arrest eight people for their suspected involvement behind the smuggling, including the "mastermind" Abul Kalam Azad alias Bunty, a chemical businessman in the capital's Mitford.