DMP Drives Against Narcotics: 13,942 arrested in last 8 months
Dhaka Metropolitan Police have arrested at least 13,942 people in around 9,821 drug cases in the eight months from January to August. But despite this, drug trading in the capital is yet to show any sign of stopping.
Amid this, law enforcers have admitted that merely arresting petty drug dealers won't get the job done, as long as their godfathers remain free to operate.
"It is true that only arresting peddlers will not stop the drug business," said Faruk Hossain, deputy commissioner of DMP's media wing, yesterday.
"In the past, we managed to reach the drug kingpins of Cox's Bazar by arresting small peddlers. We then confiscated their illegal wealth through court order," he said.
The official said they are trying to bring the godfathers under the law by investigating their illegal wealth and suing them under the money laundering act, beside the narcotics cases.
Citing the Narcotics Control Act, DNC officials earlier said it is required for a drug user or dealer to have drugs in their possession to bring them under the law. This is why it is usually difficult to deal with the kingpins, because drugs are usually found only with users or peddlers.
Visiting Karwan Bazar in the capital yesterday, this correspondent saw that yaba and cannabis were being sold right beside the rail track.
"If you come here [for drugs], you don't need to worry. The peddlers will find you," said a shopkeeper.
A veteran of the area, he added that this has been going on right under the nose of law enforcement agencies for years. "Police only pick up the peddlers and carriers, but the kingpins remain off the hook," he said.
DRUG CONFISCATION DATA
Meanwhile, DMP also released a set of data on drug trade in the city yesterday.
The data cites yaba as the most confiscated drug in the capital. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, different units of DMP seized at least 31.67 lakh pieces of yaba till August.
Officials also said there is now a growing market for newer drugs, including the expensive "crystal meth". During various drives, DMP confiscated 727 grammes of the drug.
Like yaba, crystal meth, popularly known as ice, is mostly smuggled into the country from Myanmar. It enters the capital after being carried by smugglers who keep a low-profile.
DMP also seized 40 pieces of Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), a hallucinogenic drug.
Apart from these, DMP seized 5,898kg of cannabis, 61kg of heroin, 10kg of opium, 44,426 cans of beer, 40,554 bottles of phensedyl, and 13,746 ampoules of injection.
In addition, they recovered 3,746 bottles of foreign liquor, 6,718 litres of local liquor, 10,521 litres of distilled spirit, 8,171 pieces of Tapentadol tablets, four pounds of snake venom, 25 bottles of dandy, 129 bottles of Eskuf syrup and more.
According to DNC, there are at least 3,500 drug dealers including 95 godfathers running the illicit trade in Dhaka division.
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