1.5 million yaba tablets seized from fishing trawler

RAB have seized 1.5 million yaba tablets and detained 12 suspects, including five Myanmar nationals, in a raid near the Chittagong Port.

The operation was conducted on a deep sea-going trawler named ‘Maer Dowa’ late on Friday night, RAB-7 Captain Lt Col Miftah Uddin Ahmed told bdnews24.com.

“During an initial interrogation the detainees revealed the yaba shipment was headed to an individual named Mohammad Momtaz from Patiya Upazila.”

A drug trafficking ring involving Myanmar and Bangladeshi citizens are smuggling yaba across the border under the cover of a fishing business, claims RAB.

Yaba contains methamphetamine and is highly addictive and causes serious withdrawal symptoms.

Yaba is usually smuggled into Bangladesh through 45 routes of Cox’s Bazar district, bordering Myanmar's Rakhine State, according to intelligence agencies.

RAB had previously seized 2.75 million yaba tablets from a similar trawler on Jan 17 of last year. It was the largest yaba seizure among recent raids.

Another 2 million tablets were seized from a deep sea operation on a trawler on Apr 16, 2016. Nine had been detained during the raid. RAB claimed one of those detained, Mojaher was the chief of the Anwara-Gohira yaba trafficking ring.

The navy had also seized 1.5 million yaba tablets from a trawler near Chittagong port in February 2015.

Myanmar is infamous for producing vast quantities of yaba, opium and cannabis.

Drug trafficking has emerged as a problem in Rakhine State and an illicit drug trade has flourished in the region due to its mountainous land and porous borders.