The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

In the country's biggest-ever haul of drugs, 1,30,000 pieces of contraband Yaaba tablets worth about Tk 15 crore, were recovered in the city and two persons, including the nephew of business magnet Aziz Mohammad Bhai, were arrested yesterday.

In the 24-hour drive, elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members also seized Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment worth about Tk 5 crore, foreign currencies worth about Tk 50 lakhs and a huge quantity of foreign liquor and contraband phensidyl.

According to RAB sources, various kinds of stimulating Yaaba tablets were smuggled into the country for about five years. The price of each tablet varies between Tk 250 and 450.

Children of rich families, businessmen are the main buyers of the tablets.

RAB said, in their continuous drive for eight days, they succeeded in recovering such a huge quantity of the Yaaba tablets, along with Yaaba tablet making equipment, from two city houses in the posh residential area of Gulshan. This was beyond their imagination.

One of the arrested persons was identified as Amin Huda, 36. Huda is also the owner of MB Multicare Technology. Another arrested person was identified as Mohammad Ahsanul Huq Hasan, 34. Both Huda and Hasan are business partners.

The drugs recovered by RAB also included 5,000 Ice pills, alternative to Yaaba tablets, 1 Viagra tablet, 139 bottles of foreign liquor, 132 bottles of phensidyl and 150 Yaaba packets.

RAB said they also recovered Bangladeshi taka 46,01,422, US dollars 1,900, Euro 450, Thai baths 2,500, Hong Kong dollars 100, Saudi Riyals 3, Indian Rupees 125 and two passports.

The seized VoIP equipment, included 818 SIM cards of different mobile operator companies, 3 IPSs, 159 Telulars, 6 CPUs, 15 mobile phones, 1 laptop, 3 monitors, 1 Internet switch, 2 Channel Boxes and various others machineries.

Lt Col Mohammad Yusuf of the RAB Headquarters said they conducted the drives from Wednesday night to Thursday noon. Their operation was followed by the confessional statements of six other persons arrested from Gulshan and Baridhara areas with more than 450 Yaaba tablets in their possession.

He told journalists at the RAB Headquarters, "It was beyond our imagination that miscreants have been doing such big business in this kind of drugs."

Hasan Mahmud Khandakar, Director General (DG) of RAB, termed it as an ominous signal to the young generation and said, "Earlier, Yaaba tablets were smuggled into the country. We are investigating whether it is being made within the country."

The RAB-DG urged the Civil Society and the media to come forward in the fight against Yaaba and save the young generation.

A section of unscrupulous people used to exploit teenagers for making vulgar and pornographic films, he added.

At least nine persons, including three women, were arrested for possessing Yaaba tablets and a large number of pornographic CDs.