Yaba smuggling: Drug dealers turn to new tactics to dodge police
As drives to clamp down on narcotics trade intensify, drug dealers are developing innovative techniques and finding new routes to dodge arrest.
Some of these drug mules, locally known as "fighters", have now trained themselves to hold their breath for a long time or hide inside the riverside mud for hours motionless or sit on a tree the whole night, law enforcers have claimed.
Transnational syndicates are now using them to smuggle yaba from Myanmar to Bangladesh via the Naf river. For each successful consignment, the smugglers have to pay each fighter up to Tk 50,000, law enforcers said.
The Daily Star could not verify these claims independently.
Along with yaba, they smuggle "ice" into Bangladesh through 21 points in Cox's Bazar and two points in Bandarban, according to the law enforcers.
Once these consignments reach Bangladesh, smugglers deploy the second tier of mules, mainly transport workers and CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers, they said.
During a week-long visit to Cox's Bazar and Teknaf in mid-September, this correspondent came to know about the techniques and route details from local carriers, auto-rickshaw drivers, and intelligence officials of police and Bangladesh Coast Guard.
"The fighters mainly work as informers of the smugglers. They go to the river with fishing rods and keep an eye on law enforcers' movement," Lieutenant Kazi Al-Ameen of the coast guard in Cox's Bazar told The Daily Star.
Once these carriers notice any lax in monitoring by law enforcers or gaps during changes in duty, they give a signal to smugglers like blowing a whistle or flashing a light, he explained.
"Receiving the signal, the smugglers in Myanmar with a speedy small boat entre Bangladesh territory and return delivering the consignments," said Al-Ameen.
He said that these carriers were often found sitting on the bank of the river putting mud on their body to camouflage themselves. Some were seen sleeping on tree branches.
"But we can't take action against them often as we need proof or presence of drugs in their possession to arrest them," added Al-Ameen.
NO ARREST OF MYANMAR NATIONALS
On September 21, coast guard members recovered around 33,000 yaba tablets hidden inside a boat on the Naf river. No one was arrested, a common phenomenon in the Naf.
A high official of the coast guard said they often manage to arrest the boatmen but have to release them as they are Myanmar nationals.
"We have instructions not to arrest any more Myanmar nationals as we are already suffering with around 1.1 million Rohingyas. If we arrest Myanmar nationals, they [the Myanmar government] will not accept them as their citizens and we have to look after them," he said, requesting anonymity.
"For this reason, we keep the boat and drugs and ask the Myanmar nationals [boatmen] to swim back," the official explained.
SECOND-TIER CARRIERS
On September 16, this correspondent hired a CNG-run auto-rickshaw to Teknaf from Cox's Bazar.
The driver identified himself as Abdul Kader and said he was from Cumilla and that he had returned home from abroad during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that he earned good money in Cox's Bazar as there were many foreign tourists.
"Moreover, there is also scope for getting some easy money -- Tk 80,000 to Tk 1 lakh -- for a single trip from Teknaf to Cox's Bazar," he said.
Asked how, he said, "You just need to bring a single packet of yaba or ice from Teknaf to Cox's Bazar dodging the police checkpoints."
Kader elaborated that after bringing the packet someone will pick it up from Cox's Bazar auto-rickshaw station and it will be given to a staff member of a luxury bus or regular truck to transport to Dhaka.
He, however, refused to carry any consignments. Kader claimed he has not been lured into this trade despite many offers as he considers it a "sin".
Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Model Police Station, said many people in the guise of being involved in different professions are smuggling narcotics.
"We are conducting drives whenever we receive any specific information," he said.
23 POINTS OF ENTRY
The Daily Star spoke to three local drug mules, who divulged some entry points through which yaba or ice enters Bangladesh.
According to them, a piece of yaba is now sold for Tk 30 at Bandarban's Ghumdhum and Konapara entry points and Tk 40 in Cox's Bazar and Teknaf.
While a kilogram of ice, which is also coming into Bangladesh with yaba, is now sold for Tk 5 lakh to Tk 6 lakh in Cox's Bazar.
Some major points in Cox's Bazar are: Anjumanpara, Palongkhali, Ulubunia, Damdamia, Borotoli, Chowdhurypara, Leda, Noapara, KK Khal, Sbrang, Kerontoli, and Monirguna, according to law enforcers.
Drug smugglers are now also using the deep-sea routes to smuggle yaba and ice directly to Chattogram, law enforcers said.
Officials say that yaba is unloaded in Anwara's Gohira coastal area, Sitakunda coast, and Patenga's outer anchorages. It is also coming into the port city by fishing trawlers, they added.