Police has raided the lavish homes of the top yaba dealers, based in Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf, on Friday (Jun 1).
The raid came after Bangla Tribune published a report “Teknaf drug lords flee lavish home” on Friday.
Teknaf police OC Ranjit Barua said, “A team of police raided the houses including top yaba traders’ in Chowdhury Para, Jalia Para and Dakkhin Para of Teknaf Pourashava in the morning as part of the nationwide crackdown.”
Police searched nearly 50 houses but could not make any arrest, sources said.
All drug dealers have fled their homes, said Teknaf police SI Raju Ahmed.
On spot visits, the houses were found equipped with close circuit cameras with owners handing over the properties to the relatives to be taken care of. Some houses were found locked.
Enlisted in the home ministry’s record, Abdur Rahman, locally known as ‘Baba’ (Father), spun his wheel of fortune through yaba trading. He left home since the crackdown began.
According to police, Rahman yaba consignment came by boats, which were distributed through a vast network across Dhaka, Chattogram, Narayanganj and Cox’s Bazar.
His brother Ekramul Hossain too involved in the trade. And now, his assets include two multi-storied buildings and real estates, engine-run boats, trucks, pick-up, microbuses and cars.
Ekramul Hossain went in to hiding on the eve of the crackdown.
Sources said that siblings of local Awami League MP Abdur Rahman Badi - Mujibur Rahman, Faysal and Shafque are involved in yaba trading.
They all own multi-storied buildings at Teknaf’s Jaliia Para area. Several relatives of lawmaker Badi fled their homes since one of his relatives, Aktar Kamal was killed in a recent shootout.
So far, 66 people including a pourashava councilor have been killed in shootout in Cox’s Bazar since the drive against drug started across the country.