Airports being used to smuggle out yaba

Drug traffickers smuggled four to five stashes of yaba pills in luggages and shipping boxes out of the country through the airports every month in the last two years.

Anti-narcotic officials and law enforcers said the recipients were mostly in other South Asian countries, the Middle East and the US.

Several drug rackets were involved in shipping the pills brought in from Myanmar, they said after interrogating several arrested traffickers and keeping a watch on several others.

Since there is no 3D baggage scanner at the airports, the gangs simply shipped the stashes undetected via overseas courier and postal services.

In the destination countries, the packages were picked up by recipients from the shipping company's offices or the airports, according to recent findings of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) and transnational crime-fighting unit of police.

"These are difficult to detect unless expert narcotics officials check the packages putting a lot of effort or a state-of-the-art scanner is used," said a high official of the DNC.

In some cases, the traffickers tricked migrant workers into becoming mules.

Last month, aviation security officers at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) found around 39,000 yaba pills inside a box of garment factory accessories. The box was being sent to Saudi Arabia on a cargo plane.

DNC officials later arrested five suspects in this connection, said an investigator.

"We have the identities of seven others, including one of the boss of a racket. The traffickers have close ties with the clearing and forwarding agents at the airports," a DNC officer said, requesting not to be named.

Between June 1 and November 30, DNC officers found at least 21,614 yaba pills in 14 such consignments and filed nine cases and four general diaries, he said.

In September, aviation security officers caught 12.32kg of amphetamine booked for Australia from the cargo village of HSIA.

Asked about the involvement of clearing and forwarding agents, Faruk Ahmed, secretary of Dhaka Airport C&F Association, said, "I don't believe any agent is knowingly involved in yaba smuggling. It may have happened without the agent's knowledge."

He added that the C&F agents prepare documents and open the packages from checking in front of customs officials.

"We had meetings with customs officials and law enforcers after the seizure of 39,000 yaba pills at the airport. We are working with the airport authorities to install more scanners," he added.

HSIA Director Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan told The Daily Star recently that checking has been beefed up after amphetamine and yaba pills were caught this year.

"We will put more CCTV cameras to cover every inch of the airport and are working to increase the number of trained people," he said.

Besides, steps have been taken to buy 11 new X-ray scanners to check every package, he said. "The X-ray machines are expected to be launched within this fiscal year."

Investigators said they enquired about the recipient of the 39,000 pills and found the address supposed to be written on the package didn't exist.

"Some foreign nationals are involved," said another DNC officer. "We are planning to seek support from the Interpol to track them."

Mosaddeque Hossain Reza, additional director (intelligence) at DNC, said, "We are hopeful about arresting the suspects soon."

In the last one year, at least 10 consignments of yaba pills hidden in packages of different goods were shipped from Dhaka and Chattogram airports to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq and other middle eastern countries, said a high official of the police's intelligence wing.

Police have come to know that five such shipments were sent to Singapore in a single month this year, he added. "We've increased our vigilance…." he said.

On December 7, detectives and postal service officials found 2,040 yaba pills in a package of jeans pants at HSIA cargo village. Law enforcers later arrested four in this connection in the capital's Khilgaon area.

The shipment was booked for the USA.

On December 24 last year, a man going to Saudi Arabia was arrested with 10,600 yaba pills at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram.

Between June and December last year, five people were caught with yaba pills in different incidents at Chattogram airport, according to the Airport Armed Police Battalion.

In a meeting with Chattogram district police on January 5, 2019, expatriate representatives said drug dealers were tricking "innocent" migrants into carrying the pills.

Bangladeshi citizens got arrested in different countries in the last couple of years with yaba pills inside their luggage, according to law enforcers.

DNC Director (operations and intelligence) Kusum Dewan told The Daily Star that Bangladesh was being used as a drug trafficking route due to its geographical location.

"We are working to uncover the network," he said.