After the launch of a massive clampdown on Yaba pills by the Rapid Action Battalion in October 2007, Yaba has yet again become the vogue among young people at posh neighbourhoods in the city.
It began to spread at an alarming rate after most arrested Yaba dealers were released from jail about two years back. A large number of young people from Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Dhanmondi and Uttara have taken to the deadly pills as heroin and Phensidyle become less available. In a gruesome incident, Oishee Rahman, 17-year-old Yaba addict, was brutally stabbed to death at Chamelybagh area in the city on early Thursday.
According to experts, Yaba is being smuggled into Bangladesh from Myanmar and Thailand.
The Thai government had launched a massive drive against Yaba in 2003 and killed more than 3,000 traders and users of the drug. After the crackdown in Thailand, the traders chose Bangladesh as an alternative destination for marketing this deadly pill.
Yaba, originally manufactured by the Nazis to keep their troops awake for days, has become increasingly popular in many Asian countries, including Bangladesh, as a drug that is more hallucinogenic than heroin. It was banned by the WHO in 1970 all over the world.
In Bangladesh, the situation deteriorated during the reign of the BNP-led Four Party Alliance government from October 2001 to October 2006.
Experts said the use of Yaba had taken a sharp upward turn in 2006. Even the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) and law enforcers were unable to resist them. A narcotics official, seeking anonymity, told The Independent: “We did not dare to challenge the suspected traders, though we knew how some people in luxury cars were peddling the drug in posh areas.”
A senior official of RAB-3, who conducted massive drives against the deadly pill in October 2007, told The Independent: “Most Yaba users are the students of private universities, colleges and A- and O-level.”
A senior official of the DNC told The Independent: “From a survey, carried out by a local NGO, we came to know that around one-sixth of the total students of private universities and some English-medium schools are addicted to Yaba.” “The survey also revealed that not only youths from affluent families, but also young people from higher middle-class and middle-class are addicted to Yaba,” the official added.
Most of the pushers, themselves, are in the dangerous trade mainly to bear the whopping cost of their daily drug needs. Till 2000, Yaba were smuggled in from Thailand in small amounts. Since 2001, it began to enter the country in large quantities from Myanmar through Teknaf border. At present, there is a vast cartel operating on either side of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.
Ebu, a Yaba peddler of Shantinagar area, who was recently released from jail, told this correspondent how he and friends operate the business. He said they had started the business after a friend told them that they could make quick money out of it.“We never go out of the country. Our Teknaf connection arrange everything. We only carry the pills to Dhaka on luxurious coaches,” he said, adding that they usually carrying 1,500 to 2,000 pills per trip.
After the October 2007 crackdown, they buy a pill usually at Tk. 160 to Tk. 180, which was Tk. 100 before, and sell those to dealers in Dhaka for Tk. 220 to Tk. 300. The end users would have to pay Tk. 350 to Tk. 500 for each pill. There are several types of Yaba pills available in the city under the Golap brand, such as R-7, Bally, Champa, Sita, N-series, Lal kutta, Green mango, Orange and others. The price of each of these varieties depends the duration of action and potency.
Kamal, a seller, said fake Yaba tablets come mainly from the Mitford hospital area, and that they pose even more risk since a mix-up over maintaining the proportion of ingredients could spell a disaster for its users. Yaba can be consumed in various ways. It can be smoked, snorted, injected or orally taken. The most preferred way is to have it like heroin. In this method, users place the tablet on an aluminium foil and heat it from below. Then, they inhale the vapour from the gradually melting tablets. Though it increases the addiction potential and result in adverse health consequences, this technique is popular because it the drug reaches the brain cells faster, leading to stronger kicks, through this method.
Kajli, 23, a film actress, a regular user of yaba, said initially Yaba was sold at only a few spots in Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Banani. “But dealers can now be found anywhere in the city. You can have it delivered to your home through a phone call,” she added.
Mohammad Iqbal, director general of the DNC told The Independent: “We always conduct drives against drugs. The Chamelybagh killing has stirred us. We, along with the RAB, started a joint drive against the deadly drug from Monday.”
RAB director general (DG) Mukhlesur Rahman told The Independent: “We’re taking steps to curb the growing drug menace in the country.”
-With The Independent input
