Drug routes must be blocked

Over the last 10 days of the war against drugs by RAB and the police, 54 persons have been killed in so-called gunfights. On the nights of 22 May and 24 May alone, 24 were killed. The law enforcement agencies say that 42 of those killed were drug dealers. It is very rare that so many persons are killed in such a short span of time in these incidents of ‘crossfire’ and ‘gunfights’. This is causing an adverse reaction within the country as well as criticism in the foreign media.

Drug addiction has become one of the major problems of the nation. A huge number of boys and girls have become addicted to drugs. This addiction has spread to the remote rural areas too. There are no statistics as to the accurate number of addicted persons. But it is clear that the numbers are increasing rapidly by the year, as is evident in the amount of drugs being seized, yaba in particular.

According to the directorate of drugs control, in 2017 alone a total of 40 million yaba tablets were seized. This is 11 million more than the previous year and almost 50 times more than in 2010. In other words, drug dealing and using drugs has gone up by 50 times over the past seven years. That would mean, in 2017 about 800 million yaba tablets were sold in the country. This indicates just how vast the number of drug users is in this country. It is a matter of concern that the drug users are mostly young. Narcotics can cripple an entire nation.

It is imperative to resolve this critical national problem. It is definitely necessary to conduct an operation against drugs. However, there are grave doubts that the present form of ‘gunfights’ will actually yield results. Such operations have not been successful in any country. In order to resolve the problem, its sources must be tackled. The easy availability of the drugs is the main reason of drug addiction spreading so widely.

The first question is, why have drugs become so easily available in the cities, towns and villages of the country? Yaba, phensydyl, heroin, and other drugs enter Bangladesh from the neighbouring countries. Yaba, the most popular drug at the moment, comes in from Myanmar. But how has this contraband substance entered the country? How does it pass our border security forces? If they carry out their duties properly, can such vast amounts of drugs enter the country?

Once such large amounts of drugs enter Bangladesh across the border, no amount of operations will halt the drug trade within the country. Drugs must be stopped from the entry points. The borders must be sealed for drugs. This is the responsibility of the border security forces. There are powerful cartels behind smuggling in the drugs and spreading them around the country. These cartels must be identified and smashed.

It is said that political leaders, officials of the drugs control directorate, members of the law enforcement, professional criminals and others are involved in this racket. These circles should be the main targets of the anti-drug drives. A sustainable resolution to the drug problem cannot be expected by leaving the drug lords untouched and by not enforcing the accountability and responsibility of the border security forces and the drug control directorate. A permanent solution won’t come about by simply conducting a killing offensive against the small fry drug dealers.