Bangladesh seizes drugs worth $10M in nation's biggest bust

DHAKA, Bangladesh

In the country's reportedly biggest drug haul, Bangladeshi authorities on Wednesday claimed seizing 21.09 kilograms (46 pounds) of crystal meth, known as ice, worth $10 million.

Addressing a press conference in southeast Cox’s Bazar, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said a drug ring leader and two of his associates were also arrested during an anti-narcotics operation in the early hours along border with neighboring Myanmar.

The lab-developed methamphetamine or crystal meth has become popular among the youth, mostly belonging to well-off families in Bangladesh.

The paramilitary force claimed that it was the largest drug seizure on record.

“The price of one-kilogram crystal meth is Taka 50 million (approximately $470,791) in the local illegal drug market. The fresh seizure is worth Taka 1.05 billion (approximately $10 million),” Lt. Col. Md Saiful Islam Chowdhury, Cox's Bazar BGB-34 Battalion commanding officer, told Anadolu.

“According to our information, drug smugglers normally store drugs at Rohingya refugee camps at Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar. Later, they ship drugs across the country, including to the capital Dhaka, upon demand,” he added.

More than 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims forcibly displaced from Myanmar live in 33 congested refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, with another 30,000 relocated to Bhasan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal. In 2017, most of the refugees fled a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine, a state on the western coast of Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Meanwhile, BGB also seized 410,000 pink Yaba pills on Tuesday night along with some other drugs in two separate operations along the Naf River, bordering Myanmar.

The only transboundary river bordering southeastern Bangladesh and northwestern Myanmar, the Naf River has seemingly turned into a hotbed for smugglers and other cross-border criminals.

Thousands of people, particularly young Bangladeshis, have been hooked on red or pink Yaba pills in recent years. Yaba is a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine and is reportedly manufactured in Myanmar.

“We regularly update Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) over the drugs coming through the Myanmar border. We also exchange information with BGP on drug factories illegally operating in Myanmar,” he added.

“We will again take up the matter and convey Bangladesh's concern over drug smuggling in the next bilateral meeting between the two border forces,” the official added.