Drug trade: Not just law, find source and ensure punishment
After the Awami League government came to power, they vowed of taking zero tolerance approach on drugs. The subsequent anti-drug campaign saw many accused killed in alleged gunfights, but the spread of drugs in the country could not be curtailed. On the contrary, the number of drug users and drug dealers has been increasing day by day. According to one account, 7.5 million people in Bangladesh are drug addicts, of which 48 per cent are educated.
The reason behind this situation is not being able to find the source of the drugs. According to the report of Prothom Alo on Thursday, in the last three years (2019 to 2021), analysing the chargesheets and case files of 55 cases including 53 cases filed by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in 17 police stations and 2 cases of the Narcotics Control Department, it is learned that only the people who were carrying the drugs have been arrested. The investigation did not come up with new information. The main culprits of the drug trade, the financiers and their patrons remain out of reach.
According to the law, six types of crimes related drugs are tried with death penalty- funding in the drug trade, investing, sponsoring, aiding, abetting and persuading. If the criminals are not caught, enacting laws will not be of help.
The real concern is the investigating officers have not been able to find the culprits even remanding after the drug traffickers. There are allegations that investigators often extort large sums of money from fictitious drug dealers. The DMP commissioner has admitted that drug trade now runs on a 'cutout' methods. That is why the source of the drugs, the main culprits and the suppliers of the money are never unearthed in the investigation.
According to the chargesheet of the cases, the investigating officers could not arrest any new accused in these cases. No drugs were recovered later. Not only in the DMP area, but the problem prevails across the country. The drug traffickers were so reckless that a journalist, Mohiuddin Sarkar, working with a local newspaper in Cumilla, was shot dead while searching for a drug den in the border area in April.
Countless lives and families have been destroyed by the terrible consequence of drugs. Sociologists have called it a more serious disease than cancer. If the government really wants to create a drug free society, then its source has to be found.
We have to stop drugs coming across the border. How do drugs get into the country despite the presence of strong border guard force on the border?
We need to ensure proper implementation of the law to stop drug trade in the country. The culprits behind the drug trade must be found and punished. The cases cannot be pending for long. Some cases have been continuing for more than 20 years. This encourages the drug dealers. Drug use and trafficking is a crime that cannot be suppressed by law alone. We must create social awareness against this. Otherwise, the government's anti-drug campaign is bound to fail.