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Download PDF Bangladesh has become the prime transit route for trafficking heroin to Europe from South East Asia, according to the latest report from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
“There is evidence that heroin consignments destined for Europe are increasingly passing through Bangladesh,” states INCB’s annual report 2007, that was released worldwide on Wednesday.
“The geographical nature of Bangladesh, in particular its long borders with India and Myanmar, makes it particularly suitable for heroin trafficking,” the report adds.
INCB notes that the most common methods and routes for smuggling heroin into Bangladesh are — by courier from Pakistan, by commercial vehicles and trains from India and by sea via the Bay of Bengal or overland by truck or public transport from Myanmar.
An independent and quasi-judicial monitoring body which implements UN Drug-related conventions, INCB also blamed a lack of resources and training of law enforcement agencies for Bangladesh’s failure to ‘properly implement’ its drug control policy.
The report quotes Bangladesh police as saying that the Chittagong seaport is the ‘main exit point for drugs leaving the country’, while the rest is smuggled out through Sylhet and Chittagong airports.
It also cites press reports of couriers trying to carry heroin to Europe on their way from Pakistan through the Zia International Airport in Dhaka.
The report observed that the use of Bangladeshi courier services for drug trafficking is on the rise, which largely serves to ship drugs to Canada and South Africa, citing the seizure of 550kg of ephedrine in February 2007.
The Vienna-based body also reported the increasing availability of Indian heroin in Bangladesh, along with Indian codeine based cough syrup, sold locally as Phensidyl.
Citing lax prescription controls that are not adequately enforced at the retail level, “The Board urges the Government of Bangladesh to strengthen controls over the distribution of pharmaceutical preparations at all levels.”
The board also called on the government to “Attach high priority to drug control issues and to ensure that all partners involved in the implementation of the national drug control strategy have the support and resources necessary to enable them to carry out their activities.”
Drug abuse has also spread to rural areas with heroin, Phensidyl and cannabis being the most frequently abused drugs.
The board also noted that increased drug trafficking in Bangladesh could further worsen the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.
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