Around 23 yaba factories are under the control of ten radical secessionist groups in Rakhine state, along the Bangladesh border. It’s believed that 13 types of yaba are produced here; the list of these factories along with addresses were furnished to the Myanmar government, though no step was taken to stop their operation.
Instead, Myanmar has expanded the yaba trade every year.
Home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan, said: “Myanmar did not keep her word in stopping the production and manufacture of yaba.”
The yaba trade is being controlled by Kachin defence army, Moulian group, Haw special police, X Holy Tract Group, Manpanong militia, Mongha Militia, Shah Estate army, Yanju group, Shah National People’s Liberation (SNPL), Lah militia and others.
The yaba production is run by these groups, which have established factories in mountain caves; the production of the drug takes place under the patronage of the army.
According to reports, 13 types of yaba are manufactured: WY, 888 R-2, OK, Gold, Tiger, Heart, Chicken, Skull, Hoe, Horse shoe, Horse head and Flower.
The price rises soon after the drug crosses the Naf River. In Myanmar, each tablet is Tk16 which is sold at Tk90 in Bangladesh. When the yaba tablets go to different parts of Bangladesh, the selling price of each piece goes up between Tk. 350 and Tk. 400.
Lt. Col. Md. Asaduzzaman Chowdhury, of BGB Teknaf-2 battalion, told Bangla Tribubne: “yaba addiction will destroy our youth; we are trying our best”
Now the trade has almost halted, he added.
Meanwhile, Myanmar authority has said that they did not find any yaba factory in the areas mentioned by Bangladesh.
Myanmar has always been non-cooperative in helping Bangladesh in the yaba issue, drug control official said.
An official of the narcotics control department lamented: “the number of addicts is rising; there are about 20 to 25 lakh taking yaba.”
The police inform: of the one lakh illegal narcotics cases lodged in 2017, thirty five thousand are yaba related.”
Talking to the media on Monday, the home minister said that yaba also entered Bangladesh through Satkhira border and via sea routes.
“To stop the trade, I talked to the president of Myanmar, signed many agreements but Myanmar did not honour any of these, whereas, responding to requests from Bangladesh, India clamped down on codeine based Phensidyl syrup near the Bangladesh-India border,” said the home minister.