The Airport Armed Police Battalion (AAPBn) today arrested a passenger with 2000 yaba pills soon after he landed at the domestic terminal at the airport in Dhaka from Cox’s Bazar.

Alamgir Hossain, additional superintendent of police of AAPBn, said on secret information they detained, Sohel Rana, 22, soon after he landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 1:30 pm.

Later, searching his bag the crazy pills were recovered, he added.

Sohel, who identified him as a singer, came in a Regent Airways flight. He hails from Ulipur in Kurigram district.

Quoting Faruq, the AAPBn official said that one Faruq, a resident of Cox’s Bazar Sadar, gave Sohel two packets of yaba with Tk 5,000.

Yaba smugglers are now using air routes to carry the crazy pills to the capital from Teknaf, the gateway for the drugs to Bangladesh, police said.

The new route comes amid tougher vigilance on yaba smuggling, especially on highways, by law enforcers since the anti-narcotics drive began on May 4 last year.

The AAPBn members have seized around 66,000 yaba pills and arrested 33 such people at the HSIA in the past five months.