Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has said that law enforcers are worried over the new drug New Psychotropic Substance (NPS).
“We do not produce any narcotics; these are entering Bangladesh from neighbouring countries; those who are the masterminds elude the law and remain active.”
However, the minister assured that though people arrested for drug offences got bail in the past, the new amended law will not allow them to go free.
The minister made the comments at a workshop held at the office of the narcotics control department on Thursday (Dec 20).
“Bangladesh is moving forward and the young are our assets, but the menace of addiction is the main impediment to progress,” said the minister.
“We have introduced stringent laws under which a person arrested with more than 200g of Amphetamine will be given life sentence or death.”
To strengthen the narcotics department, the government has increased manpower from 1706 to 4042, six new offices have been opened in Dhaka city and a new chemical laboratory is in the process of being finalised, he added.
On the occasion, Secretary of Home Ministry’s Security Services Division Farid Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury said, “As long as there is demand, supply will remain; we must stop the demand and hope that once the new laws are enforced, supply and demand will fall.”