Law enforcers have begun the process under which Yaba traders are starting to surrender. Already, 75 yaba traders listed their names with the police. Local police officers say that every day, one or two persons are coming and feel that by the deadline, the number may exceed 100.
However, the legal process of surrender has not been finalised as yet, say the police.
Police week is beginning from 4 February next and the matter of surrender will be decided after the week finishes.
Those who surrender may get state amnesty. Police superintendent, A B M Masud Hossain, who took the surrender initiative of yaba traders, say, “We have a list of those who want to surrender and are talking with superiors about a process.”
Even if they surrender, all of them will have to face a legal procedure, he added.
In the anti-drug crackdown, which began last May, around 400 persons were killed in ‘shoot-outs’ with the police.
The killed were identified as drug traders by law enforcers. In Cox’s Bazaar alone, fifty persons were killed.
Coming illegally from Myanmar, the biggest route of yaba is Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar.
The largest shipments of yaba enter Bangladesh through the 60 km border of the Naf River and many locals are involved in the trade.
If some local traders surrender, the yaba trade will be controlled, feel law enforcers
Those who will confess and surrender may receive state amnesty.
As per new law, a person can be hanged if more than five grams of yaba is recovered from him/her.
Those who surrender must be given a chance to reform, says relevant quarters.
Police sources say that many of those wishing to surrender have cases against them which they will have to face.
At the same time, a full bio-data and detail account of their assets will be made and sent to the Anti-Corruption Commission, ACC, to see if the wealth declared corroborates with legal sources of income or not.
Surrendering does not mean exoneration and a guarantee to return to a life of luxury.
Instead of being killed in shootouts with the police, traders want to survive and renounce their old lives.
They will also be asked to play constructive roles in society.
Police officials say that drug cannot be uprooted by drives alone and a social movement is essential.