Illegal weed trading controlled from Saudi Arabia

A group of drug smugglers living in Saudi Arabia controls the illegal business of weed in Bangladesh.

The group, led by one Zakir Hossain (not his real name), operates the illegal business here with the help of their associates in the capital. 

The Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has recently come to know about the weed smuggling racket.

According to the DB sources, Zakir – the kingpin of the gang – used to operate the illegal business from inside the country for a long time.

Following law enforcers' intensified drives against drug traffickers, Zakir escaped from Cumilla and managed to cross the border, they said adding, "he then reached Saudi Arabia via India."

DB sources, who are working with Illegal Drug Recovery Unit, went on to inform that the gang earlier used to carry weed consignments to Dhaka through Dhaka-Chattogram highway, however, they have changed the route on Zakir's instructions.

Most of the weed consignments now enter the country through the border of Cumilla's Bijaynagar area. Then, those illegal drugs are taken to the capital in accordance with the demand of retail consumers or addicts.  

The consignments are carried directly to Mymensingh from Bijaynagar and from there those are taken to Dhaka city via Gazipur or Tangail. 

Based in Dhaka, the gang also sends weed to Bagura and other northern districts of the country on demand. 

Mahabubur Rahman, an assistant commissioner of the DB, told The Business Standard that they had seized more than 1,300 kilograms of smuggled weed since January 2018. 

"Zakir uses different types of apps and communication tools to communicate with his associates. We were tracing him but unfortunately, he managed to escape," he said.

"We are trying to bring him back from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. If we can do it, the entire racket will be unravelled," added Mahabubur. 

According to law enforcement sources, in border areas of Cumilla's Bijaynagar, one kilogram of weed is sold to the gang members just for Tk10,000. The price rises to Tk60,000 at the consumer level after it changes hands twice or thrice before reaching them. A single dose of weed (known as puria) weighing 25gm sells for more than Tk1,000 in the capital at present.

The DB has arrested more than twenty weed peddlers in the last one and a half years. All of them hail from Cumilla's Bijaynagar.

At least 14 cases have been filed against them with different police stations, under Narcotics Control Act-2018. 

DB sources said most of the dwellers of Singarbeel and Nolgowria villages of Bijaynagar are involved in weed peddling.