Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested seven Chinese citizens and their three Bangladeshi cohorts from Uttara area in the city on charge of smuggling Bangladeshi medicines early Thursday.
They have so far smuggled consignments of huge number of tablets such as Oraplus, Loratin and Oradin to Hong Kong in the name of exporting garment products and accessories, they admitted during primary interrogation, RAB sources said. The exported medicines are mainly used to treat cold-related diseases. But there is a component named ephedrine in those medicines which is used as drugs in Hong Kong. “We sent the sample of tablets for lab test, which revealed that ephedrine was the main ingredients of the tablets. Ephedrine is used in making drugs like Yaba pills,” Habibur Rahman, director of Legal and Media Wing of RAB, told newsmen at a press conference at its headquarter at Uttara in the city on Thursday afternoon.
The seven Chinese nationals were identified as Lieu Xing Hui, Rau Rui Aung, Kui Haung Tu, Jang Chau Liang, Lin Lian Fu, Lieu Xi Jin and Yang Hi Cheng, while the Bangladeshi nationals are identified as Mushfiqur Rahman Khan Sohel, Raqibul Hassan and Mohammad Muniruzzaman. The RAB official said they came to know about the smuggling from a courier service in Gazipur named Expo Freight Ltd. “A person named Mizanur Rahman booked a consignment of 12 cartons weighing around 300 kilograms to send to Hong Kong by air. After inspection, the courier service personnel doubted that there were no garment accessories in the cartons. They opened the cartons and found that those were stashed with tables,” he said. The company then called Mizanur on his cell phone which was received by Hui. On queries, Hui said Mizanur is his business partner. But he denied the allegation of sending medicines.
At one stage, the courier company informed this to RAB-1 seeking their help. The medicines were seized from the office.
A team of RAB-1 raided a house at sector-3 in Uttara and held the gang tracking the mobile calls, Habibur Rahman said. “We have also found huge amount of medicines in the flat. Besides, there was medicine making equipments, six passports, and liquor in the apartment.” The passports showed that the Chinese citizens have been living in Bangladesh for four years. They came to the country in the name of garment and fishery business.
“A case has been filed with Uttara Police Station in this connection and we will hand them over to the police station for extensive interrogation in police remand,” the RAB official said.
-With The Independent input
