Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) seized 270,000 Yaba pills, estimated to be worth Tk8.10 crore, during a raid at the Whykong border in Teknaf on Tuesday night.
Ukhia Battalion 64 BGB Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Md Zahirul Islam confirmed the seizure to TIMES of Bangladesh on Wednesday afternoon.
Acting on intelligence, a special patrol team from Whykong Border Outpost conducted the drive at around 11:30pm in the Monirghona area, about 1.5 kilometres north of border pillar BRM-18 inside Bangladesh territory, he said.
The patrol team challenged and chased a group of smugglers who were attempting to move a CNG-run auto-rickshaw and a motorcycle carrying the drugs onto the highway, he said.
Sensing the presence of BGB members, the smugglers abandoned the vehicles and fled.
BGB personnel recovered the Yaba pills from plastic bags wrapped with adhesive tape and kept in khaki-coloured airtight packets inside the CNG, he said.
A combing operation was carried out in the area, but no one was arrested as the suspects escaped under cover of darkness.
“Intelligence surveillance has been intensified to identify and arrest the fleeing traffickers,” said Ukhia Battalion 64 BGB Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Md Zahirul Islam.
“The recovered Yaba, CNG and motorcycle have been handed over to Teknaf Model Police Station, and operations against drugs and smuggling along the border will continue,” he added.
