Step up border vigilance against drugs

The anti-drug operation has being continuing for eight months now, but no one can claim success in halting the drug trade. It is apparent that the anti-drug drive and the drug business are continuing simultaneously and at the same pace. This is a matter of consternation and concern.

According to a Prothom Alo report, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) recovered 120,000 yaba tablets from Sabrang, Teknaf on Sunday. The day before that, they recovered 40 thousand tablets. During operations run last month and in the first 13 days of January, BGB, RAB, police, the Coast Guard and the Department of Narcotics Control, recovered a total of 1.4 million yaba tablet. The reports provided by the law enforcement about these hauls do not give us confidence. The volume of dugs entering Bangladesh and being sold here is far more than has been caught.

Thousands of persons in the country have been ruined by drugs, particularly by yaba coming in from over the Myanmar border. A single drug addict is enough to bring down an entire family. Many cannot overcome the harm done. Bangladesh has long been faced with this drug menace, but the government has failed to take effective measures to address the situation. Over 300 persons have been killed in the anti-drug drive launched from May last year, but the situation has not improved. Petty drug traders and carriers have been nabbed, but the drug dons remain out of reach.

After the eight-month-long tough anti-drug drive, the government is now reportedly considering to provide the drug traders a chance to surrender. In other words, this is an admission of the ongoing drive’s failure. Had the operation been a success, the drug traders would all have been nabbed by now. And we are concerned because even before the government has announced its decision, the person who has appealed to the drug traders to surrender, is himself alleged to be a godfather in the narcotics network. In fact, many members of his family are said to be involved in drug dealing. Some of them have fled out of the country. So is the appeal to surrender a way of giving them legal protection?

The drug business can hardly thrive without being aided and abetted by influential and powerful persons. While certain political elements are involved in this, so are members of the law enforcement, it is alleged. So if anything tangible is to be done against the drug trade, this criminal nexus is to be broken. It is not an easy task, but it must be done.

Yaba is not manufactured in Bangladesh. It is smuggled in from neighbouring Myanmar. We have strong deployment of border security forces along the land borders and the coast, armed with modern anti-smuggling equipment. After all that, why can’t this smuggling be prevented? Given Myanmar’s political realities, cooperation in this regard can hardly be expected from them. Bangladesh must take up a zero-tolerance policy towards the drug trade. It must be ensured that drugs can in no way enter the country across the border.

No operation against narcotics will succeed if there continues to be gaps along the border and if the powerful cartels remain out of reach.