Out of the 101 yaba peddlers sentenced to one and a half years in jail and awarded a penalty of Tk 20,000 by a Cox's Bazar court today in a drug case, eight are from the family of Abdur Rahman Bodi, a former Awami League lawmaker.

Of the eight, four of them are his brothers, two are cousins, one is a nephew, and one is a brother-in-law.

They run the illegal trade under the shelter of Bodi, according to officials of law enforcement agencies.

The four brothers are Abdur Shukkur, 33, Shafiqul Islam alias Shafiq, 29, Aminur Rahman alias Abdul Amin, 41, and Faisal Rahman, 29.

Two cousins are Kamrul Hasan Rasel, 35, Maung Aung Thane alias Momchi, 48.

Md Sahed Rahman Nipu, 33, is a nephew of Bodi while Sahed Kamal alias Sahed, 32, is his brother-in-law.

None of the eight were present in the court during the hearing as all of them went into hiding soon after the day for the verdict was fixed.

Earlier on February 16, 2019, at least 102 yaba peddlers, including the eight, surrendered to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Teknaf Pilot High School premises in Cox's Bazar, with three lakh pieces of yaba, 30 locally made firearms, and 70 rounds of ammunition.

One accused, Mohammad Rassel, 28, died at a hospital on August 7 of the same year during the ongoing trial.

According to sources, Akhtar Kamal, another brother-in-law of Bodi, was on the list of yaba dealers. He was killed in a so-called gunfight with law enforcers after the anti-drug drive in 2018.

Bodi, a former MP of Cox's Bazar-4 constituency, was named as the "kingpin" of yaba trafficking on the list prepared by the Department of Narcotics Control.

The Daily Star tried to contact him over phone despite repeated attempts. He didn't pick up the calls made to both his personal mobile phone numbers.

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101 yaba peddlers sentenced to 1.5 years in prison