RAB Uncovers Bangladesh’s First Identified Yaba Factory

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has uncovered what it says is Bangladesh’s first identified yaba manufacturing factory in Keraniganj on the outskirts of Dhaka and arrested four people allegedly involved in producing and trafficking the synthetic drug.

The disclosure was made at a press briefing at the RAB Media Centre in Karwan Bazar on Friday, where RAB-10 Commanding Officer Additional DIG Mohammad Asaduzzaman said yaba was being manufactured locally using raw materials sourced from within Dhaka.

Asked whether the ingredients were brought from Myanmar, Asaduzzaman said investigators had found that the materials needed to produce yaba were readily available in Dhaka.

"This is the first time we have discovered a yaba manufacturing factory inside the country. The tablets produced in Keraniganj were supplied to different parts of Dhaka," he said.

RAB said a team conducted a raid at around 10:10pm on Thursday in the Madhyachar South Balurchar area under Keraniganj Model Police Station and arrested four suspected members of a drug manufacturing and trafficking network.

The elite force seized yaba tablets worth around Tk 590,400, powdered raw materials used in manufacturing the drug, production equipment, five mobile phones and a digital weighing scale.

The arrested suspects were identified as Md Alamgir alias Ande, 40, Ali Arman, 36, Shahjahan, 40, and Sonia, 30.

RAB said Alamgir is already an accused in three narcotics cases filed with Rampura, Kamrangirchar and Mohammadpur police stations.

The suspects are believed to have been involved in producing yaba tablets for an extended period, collecting the necessary ingredients themselves before distributing the drugs in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country.

Asaduzzaman said the detainees told investigators they had been manufacturing yaba in Keraniganj for nearly two years.

He said law enforcement agencies suspect that other clandestine yaba manufacturing facilities may be operating elsewhere in Bangladesh and that investigations are underway to identify and dismantle them.

The seized drugs, manufacturing materials and equipment, along with the suspects, were handed over to the local police for legal action under the Narcotics Control Act.