International racket kingpin was trading in drugs under cover of apparel business: RAB

After the arrest of eight suspects in the biggest drug bust in Sri Lanka's history, the law enforcers in Bangladesh are looking for the man behind the international network involved in the haul.

The Rapid Action Battalion, or RAB, says the kingpin of the racket, Arif Uddin, was running drug under cover of Al Amin Fashion, a readymade garment firm that works as a media between producers and retailers, called ‘buying house’.  

The members of Arif’s network, which is spread to Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan and even China, are mostly young people, including women, the RAB says.

Arif recruited 15 to 20 Bangladeshis, who are involved in smuggling and stashing away drug in Bangladesh and abroad, into his network, RAB spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan told a press conference in Dhaka on Tuesday.

“He prioritised less educated but smart women working in different organisations as his recruits. They were initially given jobs in his (garment) business. Once they proved their loyalty, they were included as local operators in his drug network,” Khan said.

“When they became expert in collecting, supplying and distributing drugs in Bangladesh, they were sent abroad to get used to foreign cultures. They were sent abroad on many occasions to increase acceptability of their passports. Then they were tasked with supplying and distributing drugs abroad,” the RAB official said.

The elite police unit convened the news conference after arresting Fatima Imam Tania, 26, Afsana Mimi, 23, Salma Sultana, 26, Sheikh Mohammad Badhon aka Parvez, 28 and Ruhul Amin aka Simon, 29, in separate raids in Dhaka on Monday.

On Dec 31 last year, law enforcers in Sri Lanka, in a special drive, recovered 272 kg of heroin and 5 kg of cocaine, and detained two Bangladeshis named Md Jamal Uddin and Rafiul Islam in Colombo.

Earlier on Dec 14, another Bangladeshi named ‘Surjomoni’ was detained with 32 kg of heroin from the same area of Sri Lanka.

On Jan 5, Bangladesh’s Department of Narcotics Control detained one ‘Choice Rahman’ from a house at Dhaka’s Uttara. Information gleaned from Rahman pointed to Arif.

RAB’s Khan said they suspected Arif has gone into hiding abroad after the arrests made in Sri Lanka.

The network was using Colombo as their base to transport hauls to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Malaysia and China, he said.

Rehana Begum, another member of the racket, is in jail in China after she had been arrested there, according to the RAB official.

“We are working to locate Arif. We are also checking how we can bring back Rehana,” he added.

Of the five arrested in Dhaka, Simon and Rehana are relatives. Arif tasked Simon with finding new recruits after Rehana introduced Simon to the kingpin of the racket. Simon also used to arrange passports, visas, tickets and other papers for the members of the networks.

Mimi was introduced to Arif by Simon. She also travelled to Malaysia with Arif in 2017. After collecting drugs there, Mimi and Rehana transported the haul to Sri Lanka.

Arif introduced Mimi to Surjomoni in Sri Lanka last year. Mimi and Surjomoni supplied drugs to different areas there during their around a month of stay, RAB’s Mufti Khan said.

Mimi travelled to Sri Lanka again by the end of last year when she and others of the network stashed the haul in different places in Colombo before returning home.

Tania from Shariatpur was a friend of Simon’s wife ‘Farhana’. After entering the racket through Rehana and Simon in 2016, Tania travelled to Malaysia and Sri Lanka at least 10 times, the RAB spokesperson said. She also travelled to India twice and China thrice, he added.

Salma, a former employee of an event management firm, had also travelled to Sri Lanka, China and India several times.

The other arrestee, Parvez, was an executive of Arif’s company. His job was to spread the drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan in Sri Lanka, according to Mufti Khan.