Open drug market destroyed

The open drug market that thrived in Bastuhara Colony near the Department of Narcotics Control in Chittagong city's Kotwali has finally been destroyed, a month after The Daily Star published a report in this regard.

On November 12, The Daily Star ran the report under the headline “Open drug market thriving near anti-narcotics agency”, revealing the audacity that the drug market had been running with under the shanties.

The railway authorities, who own the land, razed some 500 shanties to the ground during drives on December 4 and 5 while some 150 are yet to be demolished.

Meanwhile, Sadarghat police on December 15 arrested Kamal alias “Dail Kamal”, leader of one of the two groups which controlled the drug market using armed goons. Police recovered 10 bottles of Phensedyl and 55 Yaba pills from Kamal, an accused in nine cases including a murder, said Sub Inspector Md Iqbal of Sadarghat Police Station.

Kamal made the eviction task bit easy for police as he on September 25 evicted his rival group led by Ruhul Amin.

After the arrest of Kamal, some of his associates, who frequently showed up in the area even after the railway's drives, were no longer seen, said a local Md Yousuf.

The drug market has now shifted to the adjacent Barishal Colony and “Dandi Bagan” of Railway Station Colony, said locals, adding that if the railway authorities leave the land unused and unprotected like before slums and drug trading will start afresh.

Because, the railway authorities conduct drives only when high-ups force them, claimed Md Shafi, a local.

Contacted over the phone, Mohammed Jashim Uddin, chief estate officer of Bangladesh Railway (East Zone), yesterday said they have already recovered four acres of land out of nine acres.

“We would free the remaining portion in January and encircle that with wall or barb wire. A letter has been issued to the engineering department in order to bring the land under a development project,” he added.