They made a hidden chamber on top of the cab of a lorry, concealed a large consignment of yaba inside it, welded them shut and painted over it so that it would not raise suspicion.

This was how a drug smuggling gang was carrying around 1.96 lakh pieces of yaba tablets in a salt-laden lorry from Teknaf to Dhaka amid the ongoing nationwide anti-narcotics drive.

However, their trick did not work as members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) recovered the contraband item during a raid at Rupganj upazila in Narayanganj on Tuesday night.

A flatbed truck carrying 10,000 yaba pills inside its spare tyre was also seized during the raid.

“The smell of paint, salt and some other chemicals put inside the chamber tricked the sniffer dogs. Finally, we traced and recovered the yaba pills using an iron cutter,” said Lt Col Sarwar-Bin-Quasem, commanding officer of Rab-1.

The elite force arrested the drivers and helpers of both the vehicles. They are drivers Manik Mia, 27, and Masum Mia, 40, and their assistants Arif, 22, and Abdul Khaleque, 28.

Had they failed, the vehicles would have been taken to a workshop in Keraniganj for delivery of the pills, said Rab quoting the arrestees.

Mufti Mahmud Khan, Rab's legal and media wing director, claimed that the truck was travelling ahead of the lorry to protect the larger consignment, in case law enforcers intercepted them.

Both the lorry and the truck started from Teknaf on August 3 and took a break at an automobile workshop in Chakaria upazila in Chittagong where the yaba was put in the hidden chamber, the Rab director said in a press conference in the capital yesterday.

Rafiq, a Teknaf-based yaba trader, brought the contraband items from Myanmar via Maheshkhali, a sea route yaba traders started using following strict law enforcers' vigilance on their usual routes, Mufti said, adding that the consignment was given to the transport workers at the Chittagong workshop.

This syndicate comprising 15 to 20 members of transport workers has so far delivered eight consignments in the last one year. Their task is to deliver the drugs to specified people, Rab said.

A group of Comilla-based yaba traders provide shelter to the syndicate members for a couple of hours during the trip.

The seized consignments were supposed to be delivered to five drug dealers in Keraniganj. The Rab is trying to hunt them down.

Rab, police and narcotics officials said long-route vehicles have become the main means of carrying yaba to the capital and elsewhere.

Law enforcers cut the secret chamber of the covered van used to smuggle yaba pills open. Photo: Collected

Drug peddlers do not risk carrying the items themselves during the anti-narcotics drive that saw 210 suspected drug traders killed, mostly in “shootouts” involving police and Rab.

Officials believe some unscrupulous members of law-enforcement agencies are still facilitating the drug dealers in smuggling yaba.

Rab Director General Benazir Ahmed said drugs are coming to Dhaka on luxury buses despite operations by different law enforcement agencies. The elite force has recently seized at least 11 such buses including three luxury ones in a week.

The drug traders use a system to ferry yaba in which the transports workers, in most cases, do not even know the people they are going to deliver the drugs to.

“The bus owners have to take the responsibility and we will sit with them in this regard,” the Rab DG has said recently.

Syed Tawfique Uddin Ahmed, outgoing director (operations) of the Department of Narcotics Control, told The Daily Star that small consignments are being carried in buses and large ones in loaded trucks to dodge the law enforcers.

A section of transport workers in connivance with some unscrupulous law enforcers has been doing this, he said citing an intelligence report.

THE BRIEFING

Mufti Mahmud said they were waiting for days as they had information that two salt-laden vehicles would carry yaba pills ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.

The drivers of both the vehicles waited for hours at different points for a convenient time to reach Dhaka.

Responding to a query, Mufti said the Teknaf-Cox's Bazar route was under strict surveillance and that was why drug traders were using different routes including Maheshkhali-Chakaria.

It is very difficult to ensure surveillance as hundreds of fishing trawlers are at sea and there are many landing stations, he added.

According to Rab, Manik, who has no licence to drive, got involved in the trade through another driver named Awal. Both started from Teknaf on August 3, but Awal left the lorry when they reached Comilla.

Trucker Masum joined the syndicate through another truck driver called Jakaria.

As supply of yaba fell drastically following drives, some transport workers got involved in carrying the pills, Rab said quoting the arrestees.