Cox’s Bazar/Bandarban, Sept 28 (V7N) – In a series of coordinated anti-narcotics drives, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and police seized 2, 62, 000 Burmese Yaba tablets valued at nearly Tk 8 Crore from Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban on Saturday. Five suspected traffickers, including three women, were arrested during the operations.
 
The first operation took place at the Morichya joint checkpoint in Ramu, where officials stopped a CNG-run auto-rickshaw traveling from Palongkhali to Cox’s Bazar. A search uncovered 20,000 Yaba pills hidden beneath the driver’s seat. The driver, identified as 23-year-old Abdur Nur, was taken into custody. The drive was led by Lieutenant Colonel Kazi Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, commanding officer of BGB Battalion 30.
 
Earlier that morning, security forces conducted a raid in Baharchhara Union’s Noakhali Para area of Teknaf, where narcotics dog squads helped recover 120,000 Yaba pills buried in the ground beside a house. One suspect, Mohammad Ismail, 32, was detained, and he reportedly guided officials to the concealed stash.
 
In a separate raid in Bandarban’s Naikhyangchhari upazila, police seized 1, 20, 000 Yaba pills along with Tk 10 lakh in cash from a semi-pucca tin-shed house in Sonai Chhari Union. Two women were arrested in connection with the discovery. Police said further investigations are under way.
 
Later in the day, at the Rejukhal checkpoint under BGB Battalion 34, a woman named Shilpi Akhter, 28, was searched while traveling by auto-rickshaw from Teknaf to Cox’s Bazar. Officers recovered 2,000 Yaba tablets concealed on her body, along with a mobile phone used in the smuggling attempt. Shilpi is a resident of Char-Amrapur village in Charbhadrasan, Faridpur.
 
Law enforcement officials confirmed that all detainees will face cases under the Narcotics Control Act. They also reiterated their commitment to strengthen surveillance and continue joint operations along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border to curb drug smuggling and human trafficking.
 
END/SIC/SMA/