Dog Squad sitting at airports

Many drugs don’t identify in scanning

Staff Correspondent: Mohammad Raihan came to the country with his family on March 22 after 9 years from South Africa. On his way back to the country, he hid a large quantity of the drug lysergic acid diethalamide (LSD) in a fancy way in a notebook. After arriving at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on the same day, the shipment of the deadly drug was not caught in the scanning. He later started selling LSD to customers digitally. At one point, RAB arrested Raihan while he was going to buy LSD.
In 2019, for the first time, the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) seized this very expensive drug. After that police-RAB seized some consignments. All of them have entered the country through airports. However, due to the infrastructural weakness of the airport, this dangerous drug is not being caught in the scanning. In this opportunity, the drug trafficking cycle is becoming reckless. They are bringing LSD freely.
Selling using online platforms, which has worried drug trafficking companies.
Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration say they are receiving information that Shahjalal Airport is being used as a route for drug trafficking. The main reason for this is that the scanning is not done properly while transporting the goods in the luggage.
The Ministry of Home Affairs was informed by the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) that drugs are not going to be stopped at the airport with just a scanner. Dog squads are used at many airports in neighboring countries. Bangladesh does not have that. Those countries recovered a lot of drugs with dog squads at their airports. Adding Dog Squad will increase the capacity of the Department of Drug Control.
According to the Narcotics Control Department, two consignments of yaba were seized in Shahjalal this year. The consignment arrives at Dhaka Airport on two Middle Eastern flights. Smugglers in particular use courier service parcels more. They are bringing different types of drugs in different products of that parcel. The drugs in the parcel can be stopped by keeping a constant watch with the Dog Squad.
According to the source, the DNC has already contacted the RAB, BGB and other organizations which have dog squads. Discussions are being held on how to use them. Some information they have received. They will use them. With the addition of the Dog Squad, the DNC is expected to be able to conduct large-scale drug rescue operations.
Sources said the Dog Squad will be used next to the scanner and from where the product is unloaded. Rescuers will be able to recover the drug quickly if the Dog Squad finds signs of illegal products at that time.
Last year, the detective police launched an investigation to find the cause of the suicide of Hafizur Rahman, a student of Dhaka University (DU). During the investigation, Ramna Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Police seized LSD from a house in the capital. Basically, the issue of LSD came to the fore in that death investigation.
Police say most LSD users are university students. They are under surveillance.
In this regard, Professor Dr. education. Ekramul Kabir told, “I found out after searching that LSD business has been going on for a year now.” Any one drug dealer is running this business with the students by choosing them as a medium. Since the drug is coming from a foreign country, there must be a godfather in this cycle.
The drug LSD, which comes from a variety of countries, including Europe, the United States and Canada, is found on strips, blotter paper or designed paper, such as small stickers. Most of the time being brought hidden in books or notebooks. Coming by courier. The children of those who are in a vulnerable position in the family are bringing LSD back home. As a result, there are allegations that they often get discounts for checking in at the airport.
Most of the shipments entering the country are through them. LSD is being sold using multiple apps including Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram. These apps are often used with foreign SIM numbers. Whose registration is also outside the country. And the mobile phones using those apps are being connected to the internet through the hotspots of other phones. As a result, even using digital media, law enforcement agencies are unable to identify them.
Dhaka Custom House Deputy Commissioner. Sanwarul Kabir told that it would be easier for us if the LSD detection process was informed by the Narcotics Control Department. Because scanning can detect gold, coins or cigarettes, but it is difficult to identify the drug. Dhaka Customs House will hold talks with the Drug Control Department to stop LSD entry through the airport. In other countries, luggage is scanned.
In our country it has to be done manually. As a result, not everyone is scanned, so there may be opportunities to bring in drugs.
Mohammad Ziaul Haque Zia, Additional Superintendent of Police (Media) of the Airport Armed Police Battalion (APBN), told that it was not possible for a passenger to be caught on a scanning machine if he carried an illegal object in his stomach. Checking every passenger at the airport from time to time is very time consuming. Now many people are bringing yaba in their stomachs. It is not possible to catch it without doing X-ray.
It is not possible to do X-ray of all the passengers continuously. That is why we have to take care manually and rely on intelligence. We do X-rays when we find a suspect.
Asked about the ban on drugs coming through airports, Kusum Dewan, director (operations) of the Narcotics Control Department, told that dog squads work at international airports in developed countries. Dog Squad is going to be attached to stop drugs in the airports of our country.