Teknaf, Bangladesh: Bangladesh is increasingly becoming a major destination for yaba, or methamphetamine, and heroin smuggled into the country from Burma, according to a local trader who works near the border.

The drugs arrive in Bangladesh from Maungdaw District in Arakan State by smugglers and local business people because a growing market for them has made profits from the drug trade much larger.

Sources near the border say the smuggling is organized and has become more frequent.

The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Battalion 42 in Teknaf has seized more than 38,500 yaba tablets and arrested 35 suspected smugglers within the last 10 months, a BDR official said.

Police in Teknaf have also seized nearly 30,000 yaba tablets along the border with Burma, while authorities in Cox’s Bazar confiscated an additional 15,000 during the same period, the official added.

“Bangladesh Rifles have been trying to arrest smugglers who live along the border because we want to stop the yaba tablets from getting into our country,” said Lt. Col Mohamed Mozamal Hossain of Battalion 42.

“Local residents face difficulties in trying to identify smugglers so that authorities can better investigate and prosecute drug traffickers along the border.”