Passenger detained with 8,400 yaba tablets at Dhaka airport

Security officials found the cache of the methamphetamine-based drugs wrapped in a black package while screening his luggage ahead of a flight to the Maldives

Aviation Security, or AVSEC, has detained a passenger with 8,400 methamphetamine-based yaba tablets in his possession at Dhaka's Shahjalal International Airport.

The Maldives-bound passenger, whose identity was not immediately disclosed, had been detained early on Friday morning, according to Muhammad Kawsar Mahmud, assistant director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh's public relations wing.

"The passenger was scheduled to fly to the Maldives on a US-Bangla flight from Dhaka at 7:20am. During the departure process, his bag was scanned at check-in Row-C, where security officials discovered 8,400 pieces of yaba wrapped in a black package," said Kawsar.

The passenger, along with the seized drugs, has been turned over to the airport's Narcotics Control Branch. Further legal steps are being prepared, the official added.