Man arrested with 2,000 yaba pills at Dhaka airport

The Airport Armed Police Battalion (AAPBn) yesterday arrested a passenger with 2,000 yaba pills at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

The arrestee, Sohel Rana, 22, landed at the airport from Cox's Bazar, said Alamgir Hossain, additional superintendent of police of AAPBn, adding that the contraband drug was found in his bag.

Sohel, from Ulipur in Kurigram, identified himself as a singer, he added.

Quoting him, the AAPBn official said a man named Faruq, a resident of Cox's Bazar, gave him two packets of yaba with Tk 5,000.

Police said yaba smugglers are now using air routes to carry the pills to Dhaka from Teknaf, the gateway for the drugs to Bangladesh.

The route comes under tougher vigilance by law enforcers since the anti-narcotics drive began on May 4 last year.

AAPBn members seized around 66,000 yaba pills and arrested 33 people at the Dhaka airport in the last five months.