Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel have seized a total of 197,286 Yaba tablets and detained two suspected smugglers in three separate operations along the Teknaf and Naikhongchhari borders.
The operations, which also led to the confiscation of a hand-driven wooden boat, took place on Thursday and Friday in Cox’s Bazar district.
According to BGB sources, the first operation occurred in the early hours of Friday in the Hwayikyang Kharanggha Ghona area of Teknaf.
Troops from the Ukhiya Battalion (64 BGB) intercepted and detained two individuals, identified as Md Rashed, 20, and Md Abdullah, 22, as they were entering Bangladesh from Myanmar.
Upon searching them, BGB members recovered 120,000 Yaba tablets.
Lieutenant Colonel Md Johirul Islam, commanding officer, confirmed the arrest of the two drug suppliers and the recovery of the 120,000 Yaba pills smuggled from Myanmar. He said a case has been registered against the detainees under the relevant legal sections.
In a second operation conducted at dawn on Friday, the Teknaf Battalion (2 BGB) seized 70,000 Yaba tablets and a hand-driven wooden boat on the Naf River.
Sensing the presence of a BGB river patrol team, the smugglers abandoned the boat near a Keora forest and fled. BGB personnel subsequently searched the abandoned vessel and recovered the narcotics.
Commenting on the operation, Lieutenant Colonel Md Hanifur Rahman Bhuiyan, commanding officer of the Teknaf Battalion (2 BGB), said, “The BGB remains highly vigilant and active along the border to prevent the smuggling of drugs and contraband.
Alongside intelligence gathering in remote border areas, including the Naf River, operations are being conducted by tracking the movements of drug smugglers through technology-based surveillance.”
Separately, on Thursday evening, the Cox’s Bazar Battalion (34 BGB) recovered 7,286 pieces of ownerless Yaba during an operation in the Thandajhirri area of Baishphari along the Naikhongchhari border.
The raid was carried out approximately two and a half kilometres inside Bangladeshi territory from border pillar-37. No arrests could be made during this drive as the contraband was found abandoned.
Lieutenant Colonel S M Khairul Alam, commanding officer of the Cox’s Bazar Battalion (34 BGB), said, “Members of the 34 BGB Baishphari BOP (Border Outpost) recovered 7,286 pieces of ownerless Yaba during a routine patrol. No one could be detained at the time. The BGB’s anti-drug operations along the border remain ongoing.”
The BGB confirmed that cases have been filed under the relevant laws concerning the recovered Yaba tablets, the seized boat, and the two detained drug traffickers. The suspects, along with the seized items, have been handed over to the nearest police station for further legal proceedings.
