Trafficking yaba in guise of ‘emergency product’
Detectives yesterday claimed to have arrested four members of a narcotics gang who were smuggling yaba pills from Cox's Bazar to Dhaka in a truck under the guise of "emergency product" to store and sell those at a higher price amid the "lockdown".
Md Sujon (30), his brother Mosharraf Hossain (40), and their associates Md Ashraf Ali (26) and Jahirul Islam (31), were arrested from the capital's Khilgaon area, said Madhusudan Das, assistant commissioner of DB police.
During the drive, a team of the Detective Branch of police seized the truck and recovered 44,000 yaba pills wrapped inside 22 packets from the vehicle, said the police official.
The drugs were being carried in a special chamber created on the roof of the driving seat, AC Madhusudan said.
Of the arrestees, Jahirul was working as driver and Ashraf the helper in exchange of a huge sum of money.
Sujon, who has long been involved with carrying emergency products from Cox's Bazar to Dhaka, got involved in yaba smuggling at least four to five years ago, said the DB official. Later, Sujon's brother Mosharraf got involved.
AC Madhusudan said the siblings were involved in drug trade for a long time but never got arrested and remained out of surveillance.
"They have never communicated via phone calls. If any of their dealers mistakenly called directly over the phone, the siblings just discontinued relations," he said.
Police tracked the gang for over a month, learned about their method of operating and movement, and finally made the arrest, said the DB official.
The group used to collect yaba tablets from one Md Selim (28) in Cox's Bazar. During the drive, another member Md Liakat (35) escaped.
"We are conducting drives to arrest the absconding members," the DB official added.
A case was filed with Khilgaon Police Station.
2 HELD WITH 55KG CANNABIS
Meanwhile, another DB team in a drive arrested two people from the capital's Mirpur on Saturday on charge of smuggling cannabis.
One of the arrestee is Milon Bakhtiyar alias Chunnu Bakhtiyar (22). Police did not disclose name of the other arrestee for being a minor.
Police also seized 55kg of cannabis hidden inside a chamber of a pick-up van.
Wahidul Islam, deputy commissioner of (Tejgaon division) DB, disclosed the information at a briefing at DB compound in Dhaka yesterday.
He said a hidden chamber was set up under the deck of the pickup to smuggle narcotics, which could be opened from the dashboard of the vehicle through a switch.
AC Mujib Ahmed Patwari of DB police, who led the drive, told The Daily Star yesterday that they conducted the drive on information that narcotics smugglers were transporting cannabis from Cumilla to Dhaka.
The arrestees in interrogation said they were taking it to Mymensingh through Dhaka, he said.
A case was filed with Rampura Police Station in this regard.
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