Abdur Rashid Kulu, who was arrested with his three accomplices in the port city on Friday in connection with the biggest haul of Yaba tablets in the country, used to maintain a strong network in Chittagong and Dhaka.
He used to run the smuggling business through five close associates, two of whom were in Chittagong and the rest in Dhaka.
Two months ago, one of Kulu's associates was arrested in the capital with 84,000 Yaba tablets, said sources in the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab).
Kulu also involved his family members in the business to keep it safe. The three accomplices who were arrested along with Kulu are his son Sabbir Ahmed, brother-in-law Ataul Karim and Sabbir's friend Mohammad Ismail.
They used to rent a warehouse in Asadganj area of the port city for a short period, like two to six months, to store Yaba tablets and Kulu's personal associates would sell the drug to 10 to 15 local retailers from there.
Wrapped in plastic bags and hidden in sacks Kulu's last consignment of Yaba came to Teknaf from Myanmar crossing the Naf river and thereon to the port city through Chittagong-Cox's Bazar Highway and the Karnaphuli river.
During the primary interrogation, Kulu confessed to Rab that he had received the consignment of 2,50,000 pieces of Yaba tablets on March 20 and a month ago, another shipment of 1,50,000 pieces came to him.
In Rab investigation it was found that most of the Yaba factories are located along the border between
Myanmar and China. Two factories are situated along the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Kulu used to buy Yaba tablets from Myanmar national Amin at Tk 50 a piece and sell, mainly from Chittagong, at Tk 70 to local retailers. The retailers sell each tablet at Tk 300 to their customers. Amin purchase the tablets from China at Tk 30 a piece.
The business was done on credit, so money was not a problem. The retailers would pay Kulu after selling the tablets and Kulu used to repay Amin from that.
Three months ago, Ataul, one of the accomplices who was arrested with Kulu, rented the warehouse in Asadganj for three years from Abdul Malek Chowdhury paying Tk 2,40,000 in advance. He told the warehouse owner that they would store plum pickles, jam and jelly.
Rashid Kulu, son of Ali Ahmed, was born in Myanmar in 1962. After the Liberation War of Bangladesh his family shifted to Shahpari Dwip here and his father started importing plum and tamarind pickles from Myanmar.
After his father's death, Kulu took up the business and began to smuggle in various drugs to become rich in no time.
He had erected a five-storey building in Boropul area under Halishahar Police Station and started importing Yaba five months ago, said Rab sources.
Before Friday's haul the biggest Yaba haul took place in 2006 in which 1,25,000 tablets were seized from Dhaka.
“Rab and the intelligence agency had been trying to trace Kulu for the last four months,” said Ziaul Ahsan, acting commanding officer of Rab-7.
For the last few years drug peddlers had been switching to Yaba smuggling over other drugs since it is small in size and easy to hide and transport, said sources in the Department of Narcotics Control.
In the beginning Yaba used to be smuggled from Dubai and Pakistan at a high rate but after the setting up of factories in Myanmar it has become cheaper.
Mukul Jyoti Chakma, deputy director of narcotics control department in Chittagong, told , “Chittagong is the main transit point in the Indian subcontinent. So drug smugglers, mainly Yaba traders, use the route, as it is easier and safer to them.”
“Not only Teknaf-Myanmar border but the hilly forest adjacent to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border is also used as a popular smuggling route, added Mukul Chakma.
