Staff Correspondent:

Drug trafficking via airports and border areas in Bangladesh has seen a surge over the last couple of years, with Phensedyl and cannabis dominating the local narcotics trade.

Cocaine smuggling, especially via air routes, has gone up alarmingly in recent times as international syndicates are increasingly using the country as a transit point. The drug is not smuggled in for local consumption; rather, it is rerouted to multiple destinations across Europe and North America, said officials at the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC).

Last year, law enforcers seized 130kg of cocaine, up from 13kg in 2023, shows the Annual Drug Report 2024.

This grim picture emerges as Bangladesh, like other countries around the world, observes the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Thursday.

Many listed drug dealers are active especially in border areas and major cities. They are recruiting petty criminals, labourers, and rickshaw-pullers to transport narcotics, according to DNC officials.

Traffickers smuggle in Phensedyl, cannabis and also heroin through border areas in Kushtia, Chuadanga, Jashore, Satkhira, Panchagarh, and Dinajpur, indicating a shift in local drug trade that was dominated by Yaba from Myanmar for about two decades since 2005.

According to DNC officials, the supply and use of Yaba have been in decline over the last couple of years.

The DNC report shows that Phensedyl, heroin and cannabis are now dominating the local drug trade, partly due to unavailability of Yaba and other synthetic drugs in certain regions.

Last year, 2.28 crore Yaba pills were seized, down from 4.29 crore in 2023. The seizure of crystal meth also dropped to 110kg from 186kg.

Affirming the shift in drug trade, Mohammad Badruddin, additional director (intelligence) at the DNC, said, “The consignments are coming from India. We are aware of it.  Several consignments, including that of heroin, were seized recently.”

Khorshid Alam, deputy director (intelligence) at the DNC, also echoed him, saying the number of trafficking hotspots has gone up in recent times.

In 2024, law enforcers seized 5.72 lakh bottles of Phensedyl against 4.82 lakh bottles in 2023. The seizure of cannabis also rose to 1.14 lakh kgs from 1.12 lakh kgs.

Each bottle of Phensedyl is sold for Tk 3,000 to Tk 3,500 while cannabis costs Tk 64,000 a kg. Heroin prices range from Tk 20 lakh to Tk 25 lakh per kg, said local drug dealers.

Phensedyl and cannabis are smuggled from India, using private vehicles, motorbikes, and courier services. The drugs are then transported to urban centres, said DNC officials.

COCAINE SMUGGLING

International drug traffickers are using Bangladesh as a transit point for transporting cocaine to Europe and North America, according to police and DNC officials.

The seizure of a cocaine consignment in January 2023 led to the arrests of traffickers from Malawi, Cameroon and Nigeria, along with local drug dealers. The suspected ringleader — a Nigerian national — remains at large.

“Smugglers bring cocaine from Peru and Colombia, and later transport the drug mainly to Europe,” said Khorshid.

DNC Additional Director Badruddin said, “Cocaine is smuggled in only via air routes. Despite limited manpower and logistics, we’re trying our best to arrest traffickers and seize consignments.

“Steps have been taken to install more detection tools, including body scanners, at airports and border checkpoints to better detect such consignments,” he added.

FRESH LISTS OF NARCOS

The police headquarters have directed the superintendents of police in all districts to prepare fresh lists of drug dealers after a recent home ministry meeting acknowledged a rise in drug trafficking across the country.

They have been instructed to intensify operations to bust dens of narcotic traders, identify both new and long-time traffickers, and follow up on pending narcotics cases.

Enamul Haque Sagor, assistant inspector general at the PHQ, said, “Vigilance has been heightened in border areas. We are coordinating with other agencies to curb drug trafficking.”

DNC and police officials said the kingpins of several local syndicates are in direct contact with drug traffickers from Nigeria, Ghana, India and Myanmar. And drug traffickers are very active in at least 32 districts, including Dhaka, Cox’s Bazar, Cumilla, Sylhet, Chapainawabganj and Rajshahi.

They also said some police personnel are complicit in the narcotics trade.

Requesting anonymity, a deputy inspector general of police admitted that there have been lapses in monitoring by law enforcers in recent months.

He said that police are now carrying out raids in different parts of the country to arrest drug dealers. Over a hundred suspected traffickers have already been identified in Dhaka, Cox’s Bazar and other regions.