Border Guard Bangladesh has seized nearly 994,000 Yaba tablets in three separate anti-smuggling operations along the Teknaf and Ukhia borders, arresting two suspected drug traffickers.
A motorcycle allegedly used to transport the drugs was also seized. BGB put the estimated market value of the seized drugs at around Tk300 million.
Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Zahirul Islam, commander of Ukhia Battalion (64 BGB), disclosed the information at a press briefing at the battalion headquarters on Thursday (12 November).
He said the three operations took place Wednesday night in Hnila and Whykong in Teknaf, and in Palongkhali in Ukhia.
Around 8:30pm, BGB personnel spotted a boat entering the Naf River from Myanmar near Jelepra in Hnila. A group of seven to eight suspected smugglers allegedly unloaded sacks containing Yaba into the water and took shelter in a nearby mangrove forest.
When another BGB patrol team approached the area by speedboat, the smugglers allegedly opened fire. BGB personnel returned fire in self-defense, according to the statement.
The smugglers eventually fled towards Myanmar by boat, leaving the sacks floating in the water. BGB later recovered 890,000 Yaba tablets from 10 sacks.
In a separate operation around 11:30pm at Anjumanpara under Palongkhali BOP, BGB arrested Mohammad Ramzan Ali, 18, with 100,000 Yaba tablets.
At around 9:00pm, BGB also arrested Mohammad Hossain, 20, at the Whykong checkpoint and recovered 4,000 Yaba tablets and a motorcycle from him.
Zahirul Islam said BGB was implementing a zero-tolerance policy against drugs and would continue operations to prevent cross-border smuggling.
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