Jubo League leader, four brothers arrested in Cox’s Bazar with yaba, firearms: RAB

The Rapid Action Battalion or RAB says it has arrested a local leader of an Awami League front and his siblings in Cox's Bazar in possession of firearms and contraband yaba tablets.

Juba League's Pekua Upazila Unit President Jahangir Alam and his four brothers were detained around 5am on Sunday from their home in the Upazila's Chowmohoni.

Juba League is the youth affiliate of the ruling party. Alam is also a member of the Cox's Bazar District Council.

"Acting on a tip-off, Alam's home was raided," RAB-7 Cox's Bazar unit chief Major Ruhul Amin said.

He said they seized three locally-made firearms, 10 rounds of bullets, a packet containing yaba and about Tk 1.7 million in cash.

Alam and his brothers are named in several cases filed with the local police, added the senior RAB officer.

Yaba tablets are a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine, and a popular substitute for the party drug Ecstasy.

It made its way into Bangladesh's party scene in early 2000.

A series of sensational raids in 2007 and media coverage on the issue brought the drugs into limelight that year, leading to calls for stopping their use.

Methamphetamine, the key component of Yaba, is highly addictive and causes withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, insomnia, confusion, tremors, convulsions, anxiety, paranoia, and aggressiveness.

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