Yaba and crystal meth, popularly known as "ice", have still been pouring into the country from Myanmar, despite several bilateral talks and assurances.

Narcotics officials in Bangladesh think that the Myanmar government was not checking the drug influx into Bangladesh from their country. If it was helpful and taking actions, such a menace would not have been raging in Bangladesh.

Amid such a situation, Bangladesh made a proposal to India to hold a tripartite meeting with Myanmar to put diplomatic pressure on its government to curb drug trade in the region.

"India's Narcotics Control Bureau agreed to proceed with our request. They told us to send a proposal," Abdus Sabur Mandol, director general of Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), told a press briefing yesterday after the seventh DG-level talks between the two agencies on narcotics control between Bangladesh and India, on a virtual platform.

At the sixth DG-level meeting in October 2019, they had a similar discussion.

"If the Myanmar government was helpful and taking actions, such a huge quantity of yaba would not come into Bangladesh," the DG said, adding that he does not know whether Myanamr is patronising it.

He said that waterways are being increasingly used for smuggling drugs into the country and in many cases, Myanmar's yaba consignments are being smuggled through Indian routes.

"It's not a problem only for Bangladesh, rather it's a regional one," Mandol said.

He expressed alarm over the country's recent exposure to the relatively "new" drug crystal meth.

Like yaba, crystal meth, a highly addictive drug, is mostly smuggled into the country from Myanmar through the border in Teknaf and Ukhia upazilas of Cox's Bazar, and Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban, officials said.

At the fourth bilateral meeting between the DNC of Bangladesh and Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) of Myanmar on December 15 last year, Myanmar's officials claimed that they had seized around 16.8 tonnes of ice from January 1 to November 30, 2020.

The DNC also handed over a list of 49 clandestine labs in Myanmar to CCDAC, hoping that they would take stern actions to stop yaba smuggling into Bangladesh.

However, yaba menace was not stopped. This year till August, law enforcers and DNC officials seized 2,34,02,115 yaba pills so far. In 2020, the quantity was 3,63,81,017, according to DNC's annual report.

The CCDAC earlier also claimed that ice and other forms of amphetamines were mainly smuggled in from China and Thailand to Myanmar.

This year alone, officers recovered more than 15kg of ice in several raids in Dhaka, Chattogram and Cox's Bazar.

The smuggling of codeine-based syrup Phensedyl, through various border points with India, is another headache for Bangladesh.

The DNC DG said they have already taken necessary steps to combat the menace. In the previous DG-level meeting, they had given a list of Phensedyl factories and warehouses along the Indian border to its Indian counterpart. Yesterday, the NCB officials told them that they have demolished those.

Despite that, 3,50,241 bottles of Phensedyl were seized in 2021 till August. In 2020, it was 10,07,977 bottles.

"Phensedyl trafficking has decreased this year. May be these are now being smuggled from other factories and warehouses apart from those on the list we had given," he said.

In the DG-level talks yesterday, the DNC chief said that they emphasised on the smuggling routes into Bangladesh and shared details with Indian counterparts.

India assured the DNC of taking actions based on the information, he added.

"We have also informed that hemp and heroin are being smuggled into Bangladesh from India, who assured us of taking actions."