Children Act 2013 was designed to protect children from harm. But on the streets of Dhaka, that same law is being quietly exploited, turning some of the country’s most vulnerable children into frontline drug sellers.
In areas such as Karwan Bazar, Tejgaon, Tejgaon Industrial Area and along the railway tracks, drug transactions now take place openly in daylight, finds a TIMES of Bangladesh investigation.
Many of the sellers are visibly underage. They approach pedestrians and passengers trapped in traffic, offering narcotics without fear. In some places, buying and consuming drugs happens in full public view.
Move closer to the railway line and the situation grows more disturbing. Children and teenagers can be seen both selling and using drugs. When a potential buyer appears, they surround them quickly, efficiently.
Fifteen-year-old Saima (not her real name) says she entered the drug trade two years ago. She has no contact with her family. “Even if the police catch us one day, they let us go the next,” she says. “If we see the police, we just run into the alleys.”
Seventeen-year-old Kollol (pseudonym) tells a similar story. He says police have detained him three times, but each time older members of the drug network arranged his release. “The ‘big brothers’ always get us out,” he says.
Law enforcement officials and child rights workers say children are being deliberately used because of the law’s leniency. Under the Children Act 2013, children are to be treated protectively rather than punitively. Drug networks have turned that humanitarian principle into a business strategy.
Many of these children are street-dwelling, with no guardians or family supervision. Some are already addicted, selling drugs simply to fund their own use. Their age makes them easy targets for intimidation, coercion or small cash incentives. The risk for criminal networks remains low.
The law itself is clear. Children under nine cannot be detained under any circumstances. No child can be handcuffed or restrained. The law also prohibits the death penalty, life imprisonment or standard prison sentences for children. It was meant to safeguard children from injustice. Instead, it is now shielding those who exploit them.
Police in the affected areas say they are struggling to contain the spread. The officer-in-charge of Tejgaon police station, Kayshainu Marma, says regular raids are ongoing. “When we arrest children aged 14 or 15 with drugs, we send them to the juvenile court,” he says. “Younger children are sent to social welfare institutions for rehabilitation.”
The officer-in-charge of Tejgaon Industrial Area police station, Mahmudur Rahman, says the cycle is hard to break. “Even after sending offenders to court, many are released within a week and return to the same crime,” he says. He adds that footpath encroachment has worsened the situation and that he has written to the city corporation to clear these areas.
At the airport police station, officer Mobarak Hossain says children are also being arrested with drugs during regular operations. “If a child is directly involved in selling, we take legal action according to the law,” he says.
Railways remain a key route for smuggling narcotics into the capital, viewed as cheaper and lower-risk by traffickers. From there, drugs are distributed across Dhaka’s most sensitive zones.
UNICEF says responsibility lies squarely with adults. Rana Flowers, UNICEF’s representative in Bangladesh, told TIMES that children cannot be held accountable for crimes committed by adults.
“Those who exploit, coerce or profit from children’s involvement in crime are fully responsible,” she says. “If punishment needs to be strengthened, it must apply to the adults who involve children directly or indirectly. Criminalising children is not the solution.”
She adds that every child has the right to protection, care and a safe environment. “Our priority must always be to ensure children grow up with dignity, justice and humanity.”
The government says it is committed to rehabilitation. Social Welfare Department Director General Md Kamal Uddin Biswas says authorities are instructed to bring vulnerable children into state care as soon as they are identified.
“We provide training and employment support so they do not return to that darkness,” he says. Each child, he adds, is allocated a monthly allowance of Tk5,000.
For now, the streets tell a harsher story. As long as the law protects children without punishing those who exploit them, critics warn, Dhaka’s drug trade will continue to hide behind young faces.
