Three Chinese nationals have been arrested for producing the illegal drug ketamine in a makeshift laboratory inside a flat in Dhaka, Bangladesh and smuggling it to Sri Lanka concealed within sound equipment.
The arrestees, Li Bin, 59, Yang Chunsheng, 62, and Yu Zhe, 36, were detained during a raid conducted by the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) at a flat in Sector 10 of Uttara, Dhaka last night (25 March).
The information was confirmed today (26 March) by Mehedi Hasan, deputy director of the DNC’s intelligence wing.
Earlier yesterday, acting on a tip-off, DNC officials raided a Tongi branch of an international courier service and seized a parcel that was destined for Sri Lanka.
Upon inspection, 50 grams of white ketamine powder was found hidden inside small sound speakers, packed in zipper polybags, along with an air waybill, the DNC official said.
Using the sender’s information, law enforcers traced the source to the Uttara flat and conducted a follow-up raid, leading to the arrest of the three suspects, Mehedi added.
During the operation, officials recovered 6.3kg of ketamine powder packed in 12 zipper polybags, along with a range of laboratory equipment and chemicals used in drug processing.
These included sulphuric acid, ethanol, alcohol, glass trays, Pyrex beakers, digital weighing scales, a vacuum pump, gas cylinders, and a polybag sealing machine.
In addition, five smartphones, Tk17,560 in cash, Sri Lankan currency worth Tk47,300, a pen drive-like device suspected of being used for cryptocurrency transactions, and three passports were seized from the flat, Mehedi said.
During preliminary interrogation, the suspects confessed to processing liquid ketamine into powder form at the lab and trafficking it to Sri Lanka hidden inside sound systems, according to the DNC official.
The arrested individuals have been handed over to Tongi West Police Station, and a case has been filed against them under the Narcotics Control Act, the official added.
The official further said stricter measures to curb such activities has been taken as part of directives from the DNC Director General Md Hasan Maruf.
Source: The Business Standard
--Agencies
