Govt determined to cut off Yaba supply line: Kamal

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said the government is determined to cut off the supply line of Yaba and other drugs from Myanmar.

“We are trying to cut off the supply line of Yaba and other drugs by enforcing strict vigilance across the 271-kilometer nearly inaccessible border with Myanmar,” the minister said while talking to BSS at his official residence here on Sunday.

He said, “We have already instructed the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Coast Guard and River Police authorities to deploy adequate manpower in the bordering areas so that the smugglers cannot enter Bangladesh territory with those band drug items.”

The home minister said the concerned authorities have undertaken new projects to set up narrow passages along over 200 kilometres inaccessible land border with Myanmar for increasing foot patrolling by BGB members.

A new outpost of River Police has already been set up with adequate logistics at Takenaf along the Naf River.

Besides, he said, a good number of border observation posts would also be set up along the 271-kilometer borderline up to Shahporir Dwip.

Jotirmoy Dutta, additional secretary to the Home Ministry, told BSS that the BGB and Coast Guard are jointly patrolling nearly 50 to 60 kilometres border alongside the Naf River up to Shahporir Dwip.

The coast Guard recently collected some patrol boats to guard the sea belts of Bangladesh, the home boss said adding that the Bangladesh Navy has also bought some tag boats to protect the maritime boundaries of the country specially the south-eastern part.

Sheikh Muhammad Maruf Hassan, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the newly introduced River Police, told BSS that a new outpost of the force comprising 20 people with a speed boat has already started its operations in the Naf River to resist the drug traders and smugglers.

Source: BSS