Drug trafficking over Bangladesh-Myanmar border

LAST Monday, a senior Buddhist monk in Myanmar's Rakhine State was arrested after police discovered a huge consignment of methamphetamine tablets worth $9.2 million. The monk, named Arsara, is quite popular among the Buddhist community of Maungdaw - a town bordering Bangladesh. More than 4.0 million tablets were hidden inside Maungdaw's Baho Monastery while Arsara was apprehended with 0.4 million tablets in his car. 
According to a 2015 report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Myanmar has emerged as the top producer of narcotics in Southeast Asia with methamphetamine dominating the region's illicit drug market alongside opium. Perhaps, Myanmar's illegal drug trade has flourished due to its rugged terrain and porous land borders with China, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos - the latter two countries comprise Southeast Asia's notorious Golden Triangle. 
The report also says that the police in Maungdaw conducted two other drug hauls containing more than 15 million amphetamine tablets, known as Yaba, from the compound of a major construction company in late September 2016. In the same year, yaba tablets worth more than $100 million were seized from an abandoned truck in Yangon - Myanmar's financial capital and largest city. 
Coincidentally, synthetic drugs like methamphetamine have gained a strong foothold among a large segment of Bangladesh's youth. Due to the sharp increase in drug trafficking from neighbouring Myanmar, access to methamphetamine is becoming increasingly unrestricted. The drug's relatively low price is responsible for its high demands as witnessed in recent times. In Bangladesh, methamphetamine is generally available in two forms - tablets and crystalline - both of which are suitable for trafficking.
It is high time for the government to take up the matter bilaterally with the government of Myanmar in order to sort out ways to effectively put a halt to the menace of drug trafficking. 
Nabil Azam Dewan
Lalmatia, Dhaka
[email protected]