Drug laboratory to be established in Cox’s Bazar

Initiatives have been taken to set up a laboratory to test recovered drugs in Cox’s Bazar. This will enable the rapid preparation and disposal of investigation reports on drug-related cases, said Somen Mondal, Deputy Director of the Cox’s Bazar Narcotics Control Department. He gave this information at a press briefing of the ‘Task Force formed to control drugs in the Cox’s Bazar area including the Rohingya camp’ at the Cox’s Bazar Cultural Center auditorium on Sunday (August 24). Somen Mondal is the member secretary of this task force. It was informed in the press briefing that the gangs are using Cox’s Bazar as a main transit point for drugs. For this reason, the newly formed task force has increased surveillance in the border areas including the Rohingya camp. On July 14, in the presence of the Home Affairs Advisor in Cox’s Bazar, it was decided that an anti-drug task force will be formed under the leadership of the GOC of the 10th Infantry Division of the army. And on July 20, a ‘Task Force to Control Narcotics in the Cox’s Bazar Area, Including the Rohingya Camp’ was formed. In the last one month, more than 2.1 million yaba, crystal meth, marijuana and foreign liquor have been seized in a joint operation conducted by the army, law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies. More than a hundred dealers have been arrested. All agencies are working together to prevent the entry of drugs through the border. Emphasis has been placed on both intelligence surveillance and operations. The task force says that the drug network will be destroyed by creating social awareness and expediting legal processes along with law enforcement.