Moudud says drug purge has lost credibility as govt let AL MP Badi leave

A senior BNP leader says the crackdown on drugs has lost public acceptance after the government let Abdur Rahman Badi MP leave Bangladesh.

The ruling Awami League MP from Cox’s Bazar travelled to Saudi Arabia last Friday ‘to perform Umrah’ following huge criticism of the government for not taking action against him for his alleged involvement in yaba smuggling.

BNP Standing Committee Member Moudud Ahmed thinks Badi would not have been able to leave if the government was sincere about achieving the goal of the crackdown.

“You (government) have arranged a foreign trip for MP Badi, who is known to all as a drug lord,” Moudud told a programme in Dhaka on Wednesday.

“The government’s crackdown on drugs has lost acceptance through this (Badi leaving Bangladesh),” he added.   

The crackdown has drawn criticism also for over 130 deaths in so-called gunfights during operations.

Moudud, a former law minister, reiterated the BNP’s demand for judicial investigation into the deaths called ‘extrajudicial killings’ by human rights groups.

Badi and some of his relatives are reportedly involved in drug trade.

One of his brothers-in-law, Akter Kamal, was killed in what the law enforcers said was a gun battle between two groups of yaba traders in Teknaf recently amid the war on drugs.

The Department of Narcotics Control under the home ministry said in a report in 2014 that Badi is controlling the principal point of entry through the border for the illegal club-drug yaba, and many others work under him in the illegal trade.

Badi has denied the allegation while the Awami League and the government have asked for proof of his involvement in drug trade amid questions over lack of action against him.