Police in Goalanda, Rajbari, have arrested three men, including a lorry driver, after recovering 30,000 yaba tablets concealed inside a scrap-laden vehicle on the Dhaka-Khulna highway. The seized drugs have an estimated market value of Tk 9 million, according to district police.
The arrests were made in the early hours of Monday in the Shahadat Member Para area of Goalanda upazila, Rajbari Superintendent of Police Mir Monir Hossain said.
The three men have been identified as Ramjan Ali, 34, son of Amin Uddin and a resident of Benapole Port police station area in Jashore; lorry driver Arman Hossain Yunus, 30, son of the late Kawsar Ali; and driver’s assistant Arif Hossain, 32, son of Md Malek Mollah.
Speaking at a press conference at his office on Monday afternoon, SP Monir Hossain said the district’s Detective Branch of police had received intelligence that a large consignment of yaba was being transported from Dhaka to Jashore.
Acting on the information, a team of detectives established a checkpoint along the highway to intercept the suspected vehicle. During the operation, officers stopped a lorry carrying scrap materials and searched it.
The search led to the discovery of 30,000 yaba tablets packed in 150 zipper bags inside a box positioned behind the driver’s seat. Police subsequently arrested the driver and two other men in connection with the alleged drug consignment.
Officers also seized the lorry and two mobile phones as part of the operation. The estimated market value of the recovered tablets was around Tk 9 million, the superintendent said.
Police filed a case in connection with the seizure and sent the three accused to court, he added. Further legal proceedings will determine the allegations against the arrested men.
Yaba is an illicit stimulant tablet commonly associated with a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine. Its trafficking remains a law-enforcement concern in Bangladesh, where police conduct operations to intercept suspected consignments transported along major road routes.
The Dhaka-Khulna highway is an important transport corridor connecting the capital with the south-western part of the country. Police use intelligence-led checks and vehicle searches to detect suspected drug shipments moving between districts. In this case, investigators acted on information about a consignment allegedly travelling from Dhaka towards Jashore.
Several senior police officials attended the press conference, including Additional Superintendent of Police Tapas Kumar Pal, responsible for administration and finance; Additional Superintendent of Police Md Shamsul Haque, responsible for crime and operations; Assistant Superintendent of Police Md Rakibur Rahman of the Pাংশa Circle; and Detective Branch Officer-in-Charge Mofizul Islam.
Police have not disclosed further details about the alleged source of the drugs or their intended recipients. The investigation is expected to establish the circumstances surrounding the transportation of the tablets and the alleged roles of the three arrested men.
