Bangladesh’s home minister says MP Bodi not liked to drug smuggling
Says home minister
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday claimed that they had not found any involvement of ruling Awami League lawmaker Abdur Rahman Bodi in drug smuggling.
“… There is no evidence of it [Bodi's link with drug trade]. Many names have emerged [as drug dealers], but we did not find his [Bodi's] link [with the crime],” said Kamal.
He said an individual could not be tried unless there was any evidence against the person.
The minister was replying to reporters' queries after a conference at the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) in the capital's Tejgaon.
His comments came amid a widespread allegation that Bodi had appeared to be an influential yaba trader in Cox's Bazar.
A DNC official, wishing not to be named, had said the MP from Cox's Bazar-4 constituency was on a list of suspected yaba smugglers prepared by the department last year.
Sources said the list, prepared following a home ministry directive, had 764 names of people allegedly involved in smuggling the contraband item into the country from Myanmar.
The DNC also recommended taking proper legal action against the culprits following investigation, setting up mobile courts and task forces to deal with the crime, added the sources.
Bodi is from Chowdhury Para of Teknaf municipality.
Our Cox's Bazar correspondent had reported that many in that area alleged the AL MP is involved in yaba smuggling.
His three brothers and brothers-in-law have also been mentioned as yaba peddlers on a home ministry list in the past, according to media reports.
On October 12 last year, Bodi landed in jail after a Dhaka court rejected his bail petition in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
He had surrendered before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Dhaka on expiry of his four-week bail granted by the High Court in the case.
Speaking at yesterday's conference presided over by DNC Director General Khandakar Rakibur Rahman, home minister Kamal called upon the department officials to collect information “objectively”.