Emdadur Rahman Chowdhury Zia, Sylhet

Although drug or smuggling operations are conducted by the administration, cases are filed in the name of the carrier in most of the operations and the godfathers get away with it.

Unlike in various parts of the country, no consignment of heroin has been seized in Sylhet for quite some time in the anti-drug operation, as confirmed by many senior officials of the Narcotics Control Department, Sylhet Metropolitan Police, Sylhet District Police, CID, Customs, and several law enforcement agencies.

As a result, the number of users is almost non-existent. Those who used to consume drugs like heroin have become addicted to Yaba tablets or other drugs due to the lack of a heroin market. At one time, many public representatives including Heroin Emperor Kabir, former City Corporation councilors, and many leaders and cadres of the then ruling party used to run this business in Sylhet. Many journalists in Sylhet have been subjected to incidents like attacks, lawsuits and kidnappings while reporting on the heroin trade. Although everyone currently considers heroin as an extinct drug in Sylhet, this heroin trade market is running quietly in the Moulvibazar or Kulaura area of Sylhet. Many people have created this perception after a woman from Kulaura was arrested in Rajshahi while purchasing heroin worth Tk 5 crore.

Recently, in a raid by the Rajshahi District Police, an elderly woman from Prithimpasha of Rabir Bazar area of Kulaura police station in Moulvibazar was arrested in the Godagari Model Police Station area of Rajshahi with 5 crore taka of heroin. The woman from Kulaura was buying 5 crore taka of heroin from the woman in Rajshahi and was on her way to Sylhet when the Godagari Model Police Station stopped her. After the heroin worth 5 crore taka was seized in the raid, it was learned that a heroin market is going on in the Rajshahi-Sylhet route . Elderly women are carrying heroin as a business strategy.

According to Rajshahi District Police sources, while waiting for a vehicle from Sultanganj Gango Bari Road Para in Godagari Model Police Station area of Rajshahi district, based on a secret tip-off from the mosque on Rajshahi to Chapainawabganj Highway, Najma Begum (53), wife of Mohammad Abul Kashem of Sultanganj Gango Bari village in Godagari Model Police Station area of Rajshahi district, and Tahmina Begum Minu (55), wife of the deceased Alam of Prithimpasha village in Dakshin Longlar of Kulaura Police Station in Moulvibazar district, Sylhet, were arrested by the smart officer-in-charge of Godagari Model Police Station Mohammad Ruhul Amin with heroin worth Tk 5 crore. Many people including SI Rafiqul Islam were with the OC in the operation. During this time, 5 kg of heroin worth Tk 5 crore was found in their custody after searching them.

A case has been registered against the detainees under the Narcotics Control Act at Godagari Model Police Station. When asked if there is any previous drug case against the detained Tahmina Begum Minu at Kulaura Police Station, Additional SP of Kulaura Circle Kamrul Hasan said that there is no such case against Tahmina Begum Minu of Prithimpasha village in Kulaura at Kulaura Police Station. She is not known to the police.

This suggests that since Tahmina Begum Minu is an elderly woman, drug dealers are using her as a business strategy to transport goods.

However, the conscious public want to expose not only the carriers but also the real drug dealers and godfathers. SP of Rajshahi District Police Farzana Islam told this correspondent that since joining in December of 2024, the war against drugs has been going on in Rajshahi to protect our future generation.

This officer of the 25th BCS said that I am working as a police officer, not as a woman. The operation to seize heroin worth Tk 5 crore in the Godagari Model Police Station area is part of our regular series of operations.