Yaba trade continues despite anti-drug drive
Who is running the yaba business in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar, at the moment? Four forces and one agency, running the anti-narcotics drive, do not have a clear answer to this question. Preparations are on for a second round of surrender by the drug dealers and 24 persons have been gathered at the district police lines for the purpose.
It’s been 15 months that the so-called gunfight against drugs has been going on and in Cox’s Bazar alone 148 have been killed.
Several law enforcement officials told Prothom Alo, the persons who have been killed are mostly drug carriers. The first round of surrender took place six months ago, but the ‘godfathers’ remain out of reach. And given the amount of yaba confiscated so far, it is obvious that huge consignments still remain in circulation.
Following an offer put forward by the government, 102 yaba dealers surrendered on 12 February this year and are more or less safe. There have been no tangible investigations into their yaba supply and trials against them have not progressed. Even the dealers, who have not surrendered, remain out of harm.
According to the district police, seven big drug dealers have come forward for the second round of surrender. The remaining ones are small-time drug traders.
And yet again, it is the former member of parliament of the Ukhia-Teknaf constituency, Abdur Rahman alias Badi, who is coordinating the surrender. He himself informed Prothom Alo about this.
Ironically, his name tops the home ministry’s list of ‘godfathers’, yet he has not surrendered so far. It is being said that he is being closely involved in the anti-drug drive.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, speaking to Prothom Alo, has said the allegations of partiality and bias are untrue and 90 per cent of many of the allegations are false. This operation has had a positive impact. The route has changed and now yaba is coming in through India.
During the six months from January to June in 2018, four forces and one agency recovered around 7.8 million contraband yaba tablets in Teknaf. This year during the drive, around 6 million yaba tablets were found, according to the Cox’s Bazar district police. However, if the records of Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) are taken into account, these figures will increase.
Superintendant of police in Cox’s Bazar district Masud Hossain and Teknaf police station officer-in-charge (OC) Pradip Kumar Das told Prothom Alo that the volume of yaba entering the country has decreased.
However, the BGB commandant of Teknaf zone Faisal Hasan Khan and Rapid Action Battalion-15 (RAB-15) commandant Md Azim Ahmed told Prothom Alo that so far no impact of the anti-drug drive has been visible. Yaba continues to be caught and confiscated as before, but this is just 5 to 10 per cent of the actual consignments.
The home ministry last year drew up a list of 73 top drug dealers or ‘godfathers’ in Cox’s Bazar, almost all from Teknaf, but only 29 of them surrendered. Of them, 13 were close relatives of Badi. However, Badi and 35 others on the list did not surrender. The remaining 9 were killed, eight of them in ‘gunfights’.
Now a handful of politically powerful godfathers like Badi are still visible.
During a visit to the area last July, we spoke to several senior officials of RAB, BGB, the Coast Guard and the directorate of narcotics control. They said some of the old dealers continue their business from outside. In some cases, the families of the surrendered persons continue with the business.
Those who surrendered gave information about over 600 new drug dealers. Some of them include members of the law enforcement and their informants. Several general traders are also involved in the narcotics trade.
Who runs the business?
RAB commandant Md Azim Ahmed told Prothom Alo that they arrested two brothers -- Abu Bakr and Hasan Omar. Their brother Abu Taher was drugs and arms dealer and before being sent to jail after surrendering in February, he handed over his yaba business to his two brothers. And when drug dealer Shahjahan Ansari surrendered, he handed over his yaba business to his three brothers.
The surrendered dealers gave the names of 647 new dealers and the police is scrutinising the list. SP Masud Hossain said they could not verify 57 of the persons and anyway, none on the list were in the area anymore.
RAB commandant Md Azim, and BGB commandant Faisal Hasan Khan told Prothom Alo, some of the big dealers have taken refuge in Dhaka and Narayanganj and are running their businesses from there.
Recently a certain Habibullah was killed in a ‘gunfight’ in Baharchhara. He was allegedly a BGB and Coast Guard informant who ran a flower business as a cover for his yaba trade.
Role of former member of parliament
The local people say that it was former member of parliament Badi who brought many of the people there into this business. He is also a vital factor in protecting them.
On 31 May a certain Saiful Karim was killed in a reported gunfight with the police while Badi was having iftar at the Teknaf police station. Badi tops the list of 73 yaba godfathers and Saiful Karim ranked at number two.
Saiful Karim had fled to Myanmar when the forces cracked down on yaba dealers, but decided to surrender when the police nabbed two of his brothers. He informed the police over mobile phone that he and Badi would run their business at the Teknaf land port. He also gave the police the names of 24 big dealers. He returned to Bangladesh on 25 May and was killed just six days later.
Speaking to Prothom Alo over mobile, Abdur Rahman alias Badi said, “I was an MP. I naturally know so many people. I had told the upazila law and order committee that unless Saiful Karim was caught, yaba would not stop.”
Saiful Karim’s mother Shamim Ara, speaking to Prothom Alo, said, “My son was supposed to have been a yaba don. He has been killed so how is yaba still coming in?”
On the godfather list
The local people have accused the law enforcement of discrimination in identifying yaba dealers. However SP Masud Hossain, speaking to Prothom Alo on 11 August, denied these accusations, saying they took action based on specific information.
About former member of parliament Badi being released, Masud Hasan said, his name was on the list, but so far no specific information had been found about him.
Before the first round of surrender, during a meeting held at his home, Badi asked yaba dealers to contact him and surrender.
The 35 yaba godfathers who have not surrendered are politicians and people’s representatives. Some of them are still in the area, such as close associates of Badi, Baharchhara union parishad chairman Maulvi Aziz and former vice chairman Maulvi Rafiquddin. They, and others, claim that their names had been included on the list out of enmity and that they would not surrender.
Surrender and release
The first time, police filed a narcotics case and an arms case against 102 of the surrendering persons, but no charge sheet has been issued in either of the cases. SP Masud said that a condition of the surrender had been that the government would show lenience and they would assist in the anti-drug drive.
Things were iffy from the outset. The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and the directorate of narcotics control were brought into the scene after the surrender. However, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police claims that they were in charge of this task.
CID’s special superintendent of police Molla Nazrul Islam told Prothom Alo that they will start investigating the details of 70 yaba dealers. The narcotics control directorate is looking into the details of two of them.
In the meantime, a senior police officer of Cox’s Bazar, on condition of anonymity, said that following court orders, he went to the home of Badi’s uncle Mongmong Sen. He immediately received a phone call from ACC and was told that Mongmong’s wife was very upset and crying and so the police should not proceed further.
What is to be done?
Several law enforcement officers have said that the forces do not share information among each other. BGB commandant Faisal Hasan Khan places importance on coordination among the security forces. He recommended that a special force for Teknaf-Cox’s Bazar be formed comprising representatives of all the law enforcement agencies.
Former member of parliament of Cox’s Bazar, ruling party leader and an organiser of the liberation war Mohammed Ali feels that coordinated initiative is essential.
He told Prothom Alo, at least 10 per cent of the names of yaba dealers and godfathers on the lists of the various agencies were incorrect. The law enforcement agencies were working in accordance to these lists. But though Badi was number one on most of the lists, he remained untouched. The government probably doesn’t want to mess with him.
In the meantime, the anti-drug operation and the gunfights simply serve to create panic in the area. Yaba trade continues unabated.
* This report appeared in the print edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir.