Yaba smugglers pick water routes to dodge tightened surveillance

Yaba traders have changed their smuggling route and now they prefer waterways for bringing the contraband drug into Bangladesh in order to avert strict surveillance on land routes by the law enforcers, intelligence sources said.
The smugglers made the change in their strategy as the Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies had tightened vigilance and intelligence activities on land routes in the country's southeastern part, through which the 'addictive drug' generally enters Bangladesh.
"Yes, we've intelligence reports that Yaba traders are now using boats and fishing trawlers to transport the stimulating tablet to dodge the law enforcers positioned at land routes," a senior intelligence official at the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) said.
Seeking anonymity, the official said after being wrapped in plastic bags and sacks, and hidden in different parts of  boats, the tablets of the amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) category come to Bangladesh border from Myanmar's western town of Maungdaw and then are passed on to various destinations by the Naf river.
Maungdaw is the western-most city of Myanmar and it borders Bangladesh separated by the Naf river. The border is almost 168 miles long.
Based on intelligence reports, the Ministry of Home last month instructed the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Bangladesh Police, Coast Guard and Bangladesh Navy to intensify their patrol both on waterways and along land routes to prevent the growing smuggling of Yaba.
The DNC data showed Yaba tablets seized by all the agencies concerned marked an increase by 32 times to reach 28,21,528 pieces in 2013 against only 89,469 pieces recorded in 2009.
According to a news from Burma News International (BNI), around 70,000 pieces of Yaba tablets were seized by the Sittwe police in the Arakan capital city, when the drugs were about to be transported by a ferry ship on February 2 last.  
Citing police officials, the report said he seized Yaba tablets were likely to be smuggled to Bangladesh through the Maungdaw border point.
Station Commander at Teknaf Coast Guard Lt Dewan Rafiqul Aowal acknowledged the information and said their teams have been patrolling the Bay of Bengal round the clock to chase the smugglers.
"It becomes very tough to hunt down Yaba carriers as the size of the tablet is too small. We can't search each of the boats or trawlers on the Bay because of various limitations," he said.
Acting on a tip-off, the Coast Guard members challenged a boat and recovered 20,000 pieces of Yaba from inside it last month, he said, adding that the rate of recovery of the smuggled drugs by them from water routes had also marked nearly 50 per cent increase since last month.
When contacted, Director General (DG) of DNC Mohammad Atwar Rahman said they have opened a new office at Taknaf from last month to deal with the matter.
"We have also assigned a team of intelligence officials to the area from this week to check Yaba smuggling," he said adding like DNC all the agencies concerned had been asked to remain alert to the smuggling.
The DNC DG informed that they have sent a proposal to the DG of Myanmar's narcotics department to hold a high-level meeting to discuss the possible ways to root out narcotics.
"The meeting could be held late in the month if they (the Burmese side) agree," he added.
The upward trend of Yaba smuggling into Bangladesh has become a matter of serious concern for the law enforcers of the country. It is also triggering deep worries for the guardians of teenagers and youths as the stimulant drug has long been dominating the country's illicit drug market because of its growing popularity among the young addicts.