Police arrest 56 in anti-drug raids on Jatrabarhi slum in Dhaka

Police have arrested 56 suspects, including three women, in an anti-narcotics raid on a slum at Dhaka’s Jatrabarhi.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police said they seized 6,500 yaba pills, 10kg marijuana, heroin and bottles of phensedyl during the drive on Number 14 Outfall City slum at Dhalpur on Monday.

DMP Senior Assistant Commissioner Iftekhayerul Islam told bdnews24.com the operation began around 10:30am and continued until 1:30pm.

Detectives also worked with them.

Iftekhayerul said most of the slum dwellers were cleaners and staffers of Dhaka South City Corporation. The law enforcers cordoned off the area and searched every shanty.

Police said the arrested people included drug peddlers, suppliers and addicts.

At least 91 people have been killed in alleged shootouts since law enforcers began an anti-drug campaign on May 19 after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared a war on drugs.

Hundreds of people have been arrested in raids across the country, including the capital.

Security forces claim that all of the dead were involved in drug trafficking, but human-rights organisations have raised questions, calling these ‘extrajudicial killings’.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said security forces were conducting an ‘all-out war’ on drugs and will continue to do so until trafficking was eliminated.