Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) today arrested two drug traders red handed from Dhaka’s Uttara while smuggling one lakh pieces of yaba into Dhaka from Cox’s Bazar.

The arrestees Md Kashem, 31, and Morshed Ali, 33, residents of Cox’s Bazar, Rab said.

Rab had specific information that a consignment of yaba was being smuggled into Dhaka through courier service, said Lt Col Emranul Hasan, commanding officer of Rab-3.  

The two arrived at the courier outlet in Uttara Sector-6 when Rab intercepted them and seized the merchandise this morning, he added.

During preliminary interrogation, the arrestees admitted that they shipped the contraband items to Dhaka from Cox’s Bazar through courier services, the Rab official said.

Meanwhile, a team of Coast Guard on Saturday night recovered a packet of 1.4 lakh pieces of yaba floating on the Bay of Bengal in Cox’s Bazar. 

The dealers abandoned the pills in the sea and fled after a Coast Guard team was on a raid, Saiful Islam, Lt Commander of the Coast Guard east zone told our Cox’s Bazar correspondent.