Bangladesh, Myanmar anti-drug authorities agree on joint border patrol

Bangladesh and Myanmar anti-drug authorities agreed for joint border patrol and establishing liaison offices in a bid to stop yaba pill smuggling into Bangladesh from the neighbouring country.

The both authorities also promised for more intelligence sharing and vigilance in River Naf to check the smuggling. The decisions were made in virtual conference between Bangladesh's Department of Narcotic Control and Myanmar's Drug Enforcement Division (DED).

It was the fourth DG level talks between the two anti-drug authorities after a three-year interval.

Briefing reporters after the conference, DNC Director General Muhammed Ahsanul Jabbar said that Bangladesh emphasised on yaba pills' smuggling issue in the conference and Myanmar authorities did not deny the smuggling into Bangladesh.

So far, Bangladesh has provided intelligence information on 49 clandestine labs in Myanmar. All the labs are in Bangladesh bordering areas and produce yaba tablets, said Jabbar.

In the joint meeting, Myanmar authorities said that they have carried out raids at different clandestine labs in Maungdaw, Rakhain and Shan state based on Bangladeshi information, added Jabbar.

There were discussions on joint border petrol by Border Guard Bangladesh and Myanmar's Border Guard Police and establishing more liaison office. But the DNC authorities could not clarify in timeframe for joint border petrol and liaison offices saying they did not talk to home ministry and other authorities for that.

In the conference, Myanmar authorities informed Bangladeshi counterpart that they have seized over 31 crore yaba tables and filed 7,549 cases in 11 months' drives in their country, said Manjurul Islam, a deputy director of DNC.

DNC DG said they told its counterpart that Bangladesh is not a drug producing country, but transnational syndicates are using Bangladesh as a route to smuggle yaba and other drugs after smuggling it into the country from Myanmar.

He sought more strong and swift action from Myanmar for checking the smuggling.

DNC DG said that they have proposed to have their teams deployed with dog squads at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in a bid to curb drug smuggling.

Myanmar authorities informed Bangladesh that according to their data, there are 3.5 lakh drug addicts in their country. But the drug seizures are huge and these are produced mainly targeting Bangladesh.