Two million bottles of smuggled Phensedyl seized since 2009
Smuggling of banned codeine syrup Phensedyl has increased manifold in recent times causing alarm among the agencies concerned.
Nearly two million bottles of Phensidyl have been seized across the country by the law enforcers and the narcotics control department since January 2009, officials said.
The narcotic liquid, the ingredients of which include codeine phosphate and ephedrine, has been smuggled into Bangladesh by buses and trucks, hidden in baggage and luggage, and peddlers individually through the borders, according to the narcotics control department.
The law enforcers believe the actual quantity of Phensedyl smuggled into the country during the period was five times the quantity seized.
Drug traffickers use more than 50 points in the 31 border districts of the country to smuggle Phensedyl, law enforcers said.
The police said that influential people, including a section of law enforcers, were linked to the drug cartels.
On September 5, the police arrested major Sabbir Ahmed Bipu of Chittagong cantonment on charge of possessing three bottles of Phensedyl in Madhukhali upazila in Faridpur district.
On July 16, major Reza Shah Mohammad Zillullah of the army engineering corps and his cousin were detained by the police at the western end of Bangabandhu Bridge with at least 780 bottles of smuggled Indian Phensedyl.
When approached, the narcotics control department director general, MAN Siddique, told New Age that the drug smuggling had increased alarmingly in recent times and that the department had launched countrywide drives against narcotics for the first time since independence.
According to narcotics control department’s report, 47.83 per cent of the drug addicts who had taken treatment in hospitals and clinics in 2007, were unemployed youths while 6.6 per cent were students and primary sources of the drug in 90.74 per cent of the cases were friends.
Bangladesh Rifles at the director general level talks in New Delhi in March handed over to its Indian counterparts a list of 32 Phensedyl factories on the other side of the border asking for necessary measurers but the BDR sources said no steps were yet taken to address the issue.
In the ongoing director-general level meeting between the Bangladesh Rifles and Indian Border Security Force in Dhaka, the officials of the two countries also expressed concern over continued smuggling of different types of drugs, including heroin and Phensedyl despite steps taken to curb drug smuggling, a Bangladeshi official attending the meeting said.
Bangladesh Rifles deputy director general, brigadier general Obaidul Haque, told New Age, ‘We have provided the Indian side with a list of the Phensedyl factories on the other side of the border marking their locations, so that the Indian authorities can take action in order to save their youth as well as ours from the curse of drug abuse …but powerful cartels control the drug smuggling.’
At least 18, 69, 743 bottles and 3, 628 litres of the banned codeine syrup have been seized mostly by the Rapid Action Battalion and Bangladesh Rifles while a small quantity by the police and narcotics control department between January 2009 and August 2010, according to officials concerned.
According to the current maker price the value of the Phensidyl seizure is more than Tk 74,78,97,200.
Of the seizure, the RAB from January 2009 to September 2010 seized 7, 89,000 bottles and 3,150 litres of the codeine syrup while the Bangladesh Rifles from January 2009 to August 2010 seized 9, 31,805 bottles of the banned codeine with 4, 24, 014 bottles in 2010 till August 31.
The police headquarters failed to give any figures of Phensedyl seized by the police, but the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said in 2009 it had seized 57, 355 bottles and 153 litres of the codeine syrup.
About the impact of the drug abuse, the Dhaka range deputy inspector general of police, Mokhlesur Rahman, on September 15 said that drugs had engulfed the entire society, including the police, physicians and engineers.
Mokhlesur Rahman on Sunday said it was difficult for the police department to contain crime and drug abuse without cooperation from all as police could deal with only 30 per cent of the crimes committed in the country.
Dhaka University’s psychology department professor Azizur Rahman said the effects of narcotics were devastating as drugs damage health and human faculties.
According to government statistics, trades in illegal drugs take place mostly at street corners taking the advantage of lax monitoring.
The RAB legal and media wing director, commander Mohammad Sohail also held lax monitoring responsible for widespread drug peddling.
Citing statistics, he said the 8,000-strong battalion seized about 7, 89,000 bottles of the banned codeine syrup while others agencies concerned like the police, which has more than 1,24, 000 members, failed to seize a significant quantity of narcotics.
Bangladesh has borders with India on its three sides except the south, which stands on the Bay of Bengal.
