Fighting against drugs

Criminals are usually one step ahead of the law enforcing agencies. The phensidyl dealers in Bangladesh adopted a new tactic to dodge law enforcers. These drug dealers now concentrate on home service rather than their old illegal trade styles. According to the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), the drug dealers adapted to this new technique since selling phensidyl from fixed outlets are very much risky. According to DNC, there are some 500 drug dealers in the country, of which approximately 200 work within and around Dhaka. The department also claimed that in Dhaka 10,000 bottles of phensidyl changes hand on a daily basis. This statistics give raise to the question as to how delivering phensidyl at home remains a safe trade.

There are other drugs that are very much easy to carry, such as yaba tablets. It is easily understood that the customer base for yaba come from the well-off class of the society, which allows both the parties to protect themselves from falling into the eyes of the law enforcing agencies. The foul play gets exposed in rare cases where the law enforcing agencies are informed by the irate addict or a deranged addict.

Undoubtedly this illegal trade is demand-driven. As such it is also very much difficult to grab the parties red-handed.The DNC's being aware about the number of drug dealers raises questions that since they know about the number of dealers, why aren’t they arrested? The drug dealers mostly use mobile phones to carry on their business, and this cannot be a valid excuse for not being able to track them down. No matter how omnipresent they are, they definitely have to store the smuggled drugs somewhere before they are channeled to their agents and customers. These are the most vulnerable moments of illegal drug trading. Law enforcing agencies must take advantage of these moments to catch and take necessary actions against these dealers and their clients. Another equally important option is to seal the entry points to crab drug dealings. The fact that Bangladesh does not produce yaba, marijuana, phensidyl and other drugs remains uncontested.

The media cautioned Bangladesh in the late 80's when it started to become the route between the west and the golden triangle. Bangladesh at present is both the destination and the route. The country can benefit against this deadly addiction if a successful and concerted campaign is launched against drug addiction. Portraying the devastating effects on the drug users can be an effective step of the campaign.

To stop drugs from entering the country, the guards at the border should be adequately trained so that they are able to detect them before these deadly drugs cross the border and get to the hands of the traders and agents. The aim should be to permanently plug off the routes. The effectiveness of the campaign can further be enhanced through the arrest of the drug smugglers and their big bosses.