Choppers may be used to smuggle yaba

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has asked private helicopter operators “to be more cautious” after receiving information that choppers were being used for smuggling yaba pills.

He called eight such operators at his secretariat office yesterday and held a meeting with them.

The minister, however, told The Daily Star, “We are not certain that yaba is being smuggled through the helicopters. But we have received such information.”

“We called them to express our concern,” he added.

According to a home ministry official, a nine- member committee has been formed to recommend how to ensure security checking for the people who travel by private helicopters.

The committee would also recommend how the helicopters would operate, the official said.

The issue of smuggling yaba through air routes has never come to light since passengers of helicopters did not need to go through security checking or scanning.

The law enforcers began anti-narcotics drives on May 4, last year and have brought all the routes, air and highways, under tougher vigilance since then.

Since the drives started, Airport Armed Police Battalion (AAPBn) arrested some 35 passengers of aircrafts and seized around 65,000 yaba pills at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.