6 Rohingyas held for yaba smuggling

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion yesterday seized 6 lakh yaba tablets from Patenga area in Chittagong city and detained eight people, including six Rohingyas, in connection with yaba smuggling. 

The six Rohingyas from Myanmar are Nur Kabir, 40, Jamal Hussain, 45, Bashir Ahmed, 35, Mohammad Zabiullah, 25, Mohammad Bashiulla, 25, and Akther Hussain, 23. They were living in Kutu Palong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar.

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Two other arrestees, Ali Zohor, 38, and Mohammad Shahjahan, 45, are from Patiya and Anwara upazilas in Chittagong.

Lt Col Miftah Uddin Ahmed, commanding officer of Rab-7, said acting on a tip-off, a Rab team detained the eight people near Sluice Gate area of Charpara in Patenga around 12:30am, finding their suspicious movement. Later, the yaba tablets were recovered from a sack which was in their possession.

They unloaded the pills from a fishing trawler in the area, said the Rab official.

During interrogation, the detainees admitted that they smuggled many consignments of yaba tablets, including that of eight lakh pills, into the country in February, Miftah said.

They also said owners of the six lakh yaba tablets are Hasan Majhi, 40, and his brother Saber Ahmed, 28, and their brother-in-law Hasan Mia, hailing from Anwara upazila.

The three went into hiding, said the Rab official, adding that the value of the seized yaba tablets would be Tk 24 crore.

Two such yaba smuggling gangs were busted in Chittagong by Rab-7 in October and November last year while they were smuggling yaba tablets into the country.

Rab-7 seized over 79 lakh yaba tablets since January 2016 from different areas of Chittagong.