No bail for Bodi brothers

A Cox's Bazar court yesterday rejected the bail petitions of eight family members of former lawmaker Abdur Rahman Bodi and two other yaba godfathers and dealers who surrendered on February 16.

The eight of them are Bodi's brothers Abdus Sukur, Aminur Rahman Prakash alias Abdul Amin, Shofiqul Islam Prokash alias Shafiq, Foysal Rahman, his cousins Kamrul Hasan Russel, Md Alam, Mong Aung Shein and nephew Shahed Rahman Nipu.

The two others are Maruf Bin Khalil, one of Abdus Sukur's assistants, and Mojammel Haque.

Inspector of Cox's Bazar Court Police Kazi Didarul Alam said Judge Zerin Sultana of Ukhia Senior Judicial Magistrate court rejected their bail petitions in absence of the accused.

Earlier on February 16 morning, 102 yaba godfathers and dealers surrendered to police at Teknaf in presence of Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Inspector General of Police Mohammad Javed Patwary.

Later in the afternoon, all 102 were taken to the Teknaf Senior Judicial magistrate court after they were shown arrested in two cases -- one under the arms act and another under the narcotics act. The court later sent them to Cox's Bazar district jail.

The formal surrender came after a massive anti-narcotics crackdown since May last year left nearly 300 people, including 40 from Teknaf, dead and some 25,000 arrested.

Those who surrendered were accused in three to 16 cases each.

Of them, 16 are family members of Bodi, 24 are top godfathers listed by the home ministry and 10 others are local elected representatives.

The former MP from Cox's Bazar-4 Abdur Rahman Bodi was named as a yaba godfather in reports by the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) alongside several intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

A DNC report mentioned him as a patron of the yaba trade in Ukhia-Teknaf, the gateway of smuggling the crazy drug from Myanmar, according to media reports.