The drug invasion undaunted, undeterred

Zabirul Islam (not his real name) had been waiting outside an apartment in the capital's Kalabagan for more than an hour.

His impatience was evident in his jittery demeanour.

"I will wait only 30 more minutes," he said. He had said the same an hour ago.

Zabirul, 22, was waiting for his next hit. His drug dealer was not responding as quickly as promised. Eventually, he would find another dealer, wait again and continue the cycle until his needs were met.

The scourge of drugs has become an inescapable epidemic.

The threats of arrest, imprisonment and even death fail to act as a deterrent.

The latest Annual Drug Report of Bangladesh 2022 reveals some worrying figures.

The floodgates have opened, with nothing stymieing the spread of the crazy medicine yaba or the proliferation of Phensedyl.

From 2010 to 2022, within a decade yaba seizures rose to around 4.5 crore of pieces from some 8 lakh, meaning it was 50 times higher.

On the other hand, despite law enforcement agencies claiming they had increased vigilance, data shows that more Phensedyl has been smuggled this year compared to previous years.

According to the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), around 7 lakh bottles of Phensedyl were seized in 2022 by all law enforcement agencies, including the police, the Border Guard Bangladesh, and the DNC.

In the previous year, the seizure was a little shy of 6 lakh bottles.

Besides, 4.59 crore yaba tablets were seized last year across the country, a dip from the 5.31 crore – the highest in ten years – registered in 2021.

According to a study by the United Nations Office for Drug and Crime, only 8-10% of the total smuggled narcotics is usually seized by law enforcers.

Those concerned have tried to ramp up the pressure on drug dealers.

The DNC alone set up around 2,783 temporary checkposts on the bordering districts in the fiscal 2021-22.

Besides, the DNC conducted 92,627 operations and filed 22,169 narcotics cases across the country.

Police, RAB and other law enforcement agencies made fighting narcotics their top priority.

In the meantime, courts are swamped with thousands of narcotics related cases.

Yet, nothing seems to be working.

80 lakh and counting

Jennifer (not her real name) had arrived in Dhaka from California, USA in 2013.

Having grown up in the US, she had family but no friends in Bangladesh. A chance meeting with a boy outside a coffee shop was meant to be the start of a romantic story.

But for Jennifer, 26 at the time, it was the beginning of a crash which would have long-term repercussions.

"He introduced me to yaba. Then after a few months, our relationship ended. I was very sad at the time and continued to use the drug," Jennifer recalls.

Even though she had determined not to speak to him, Jennifer recalls, with regret, calling the same man to get some more supply of the crazy medicine.

"Eventually, I began contacting the dealers directly. I was so consumed by the habit that I could not even hold on to a steady job."

Jennifer returned to the US a year later, starting another journey – this time one of rehabilitation.

But not everyone's story ends the same way.

According to physicians and experts, 90% of addicts are juveniles or youth, and of those 85% are addicted to yaba.

The Madok o Nesha Nirodh Sangstha (MANAS), an anti-drug organisation, puts the number of drug users of different kinds at 80-85 lakh people.

The organisation suspects that the number will cross 1 crore by 2025.

In a more conservative estimate, the DNC says the number of addicts is around 60 lakh, which they said wasn't "devastating".

According to the DNC, the number was 30 lakh back in 2017, just before the war on drugs began.

Instead of controlling addiction, the organisation's plan is eradication of supply.

Anti-drug drives would lower the number of peddlers and hence the number of addicts, they feel.

An expert, however, says the DNC approach needs more nuance.

Narcotics history writer and North South University professor M Emdadul Haque points out two reasons behind the drug surge in the country – high demand among the community and hefty cash rewards.

"Most of the drug peddlers get into the business as they get large amounts of cash in return for risking their lives. If you can't disrupt the supply chain they [drug lords and peddlers] would smuggle narcos at any means and cost," he said.

"The war should be against the demand. Otherwise, the so-called 'drives' won't have any effect," he added.

As the numbers demonstrate, the anti-drug campaign may indeed need some tweaks.

An unwinnable war?

With the slogan "let's go to war against drugs" on 4 May 2018, the government initiated a special anti-drug drive which led to around 10-12 drug routes being unearthed and 7,000 peddlers being jailed.

More importantly, it led to the deaths of around 500 suspected drug dealers in police and other agencies shootouts that very year, claimed rights bodies.

However, according to law enforcement agencies, 358 drug peddlers were killed in "gunfight" in 2018 after the war against drugs launched on 4 May of the year.

Among them, 169 were killed by the police, 106 by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and 12 were killed by the Border Guard Bangladesh. The remaining 72 drug peddlers were killed in infighting between several groups, claimed law enforcement officials.

The extrajudicial killings drew huge criticism. Allegations of human rights violations against the government were rife.

Amnesty International claimed that there were 466 suspected extrajudicial executions in 2018, a three-fold increase over 2017.

But killing wasn't the only method.

On 26 February 2019, 102 drug peddlers surrendered to the home minister. Among them 30 were "drug lords/kingpins" listed by the police.

Around three years later, on 23 November 2022, Cox's Bazar district and sessions Judge Ismail Hossain sentenced 101 yaba peddlers to a year-and-a-half in jail and fined them Tk20,000 each in a drugs case.

All of the yaba peddlers, who surrendered in the district nearly four years ago, were acquitted from the arms case.

One accused, Mohammad Rassel, 28, died at a hospital on August 7 of the same year during the ongoing trial.

However, most of the drug peddlers were absent on judgement day, while the majority have been absconding since getting bail.

On another side of the border, repeated attempts have been made to stop both yaba and Phensydyl where they originate from – Myanmar and India.

Both these attempts also haven't had the desired result.

According to a letter sent to Myanmar from the DNC in 2020, Myanmar nationals smuggle yaba pills to Bangladesh through different land and water routes of Teknaf upazila in Cox's Bazar district.

In 1994, Bangladesh and Myanmar inked an agreement to control the narcotics trafficking.

Since then both countries sat for four times and discussed the challenges of curbing the yaba trafficking and every time Myanmar's drug combatting agency gave commitments to fix the issue and act against drug producers in their territories.

But Myanmar, the lone source of the crazy medicine, has done little against secret yaba factories.

On 15 December, 2020, in a virtual bilateral meeting, the DNC handed over a total of 37 yaba factories lists of bordering areas of Myanmar to its counterpart.

It further provided information on Myanmar nationals involved in the drug trade.

But nothing came of it.

"They [Myanmar] kept assuring us but we haven't seen any visible action yet. On the contrary, yaba smuggling is increasing every year," the official said under the condition of anonymity.

In the letter sent to Myanmar, the DNC stated that smuggling of drugs from the neighbouring country to Bangladesh increased by 98% over the last few years, and shared concerns that this is putting the lives of people, especially the young generation, into danger.

Another border, another drug

Officials suspect that as vigilance on yaba increased, peddlers turned their attention towards Phensedyl.

The cough syrup has become much sought after in many dry Indian states and also Bangladesh.

Phensedyl mainly enters the country through India, where it is legally manufactured.

Tanvir Momtaz, director (operation and intelligence) of the DNC, said the drug was now entering the country using new bottles and names.

Meanwhile, as India turns the magnifying glass on cow smuggling, Phensedyl has been smuggled out at an all-time high, according to the country's Border Security Force (BSF).

Due to its lucrative returns amid high demand, the smuggling of the codeine-based drug has almost doubled in the last two years, the New Indian Express reported quoted BSF sources.

Data from BSF shows the number of syrup bottles seized on the Indian side has risen from 2.82 lakh in 2021 to over 4.06 lakh in 2022.

"Smuggling this cough syrup is quite rewarding financially as the cost of one bottle of Phensedyl, which sells for around Rs170 in India, instantly shoots up to Rs500 as soon as it crosses the border," said a senior officer in the BSF.

As Phensedyl stages a comeback, another worry is the emergence of brand new drugs.

Nipping ever-sprouting buds

Police and DNC officials say crystal meth – a potent Methamphetamine – has also entered Bangladesh from Myanmar.

Also known as its, the seizure of the drug from 2021 to 2022 increased by three times.

According to the Annual Drug Report of Bangladesh 2022, around 104 kilos of crystal meth were seized by all agencies last year, while the figure was 36 kilos in 2021.

Tanvir Momtaz, the DNC director, said ice smuggling has increased as demand always remains high for new drugs among abusers.

"However, the smuggling of yaba decreased as we have managed to identify the drug routes and smuggling techniques," he added.

Former director of the DNC Kusum Dewan said as new drugs like crystal meth/ice, magic mushroom, NPS, DMT, LSD are expensive, only the rich could afford those.

"We're trying to bring down the supply of these drugs to zero, which may lower the number of addicts, too," he added.

While unveiling the annual drug report on March 29, Home Minister Asaduzzaman said the country was heading towards a deadly disaster due to growing addiction.

"Demand and supply go together. When demand rises, supply increases as well. We are reducing both demand and supply in this case."