Teknaf, Bangladesh: A team of Coast Guard arrested three drug peddlers and recovered 10,000 pieces of Yaba tablets from an engine-run trawler near St. Martin's Islands in Cox's Bazar yesterday, said a local from Saint Martin who denied to be named.
The arrestees are identified as Mohammad Abdus Salam, 60, Mohammad Ilias, 30, and Mohammad Abdur Rahman, 22, from Teknaf union.
Coast Guard sources said they recovered the contraband hiding under the pilled fishes in the trawler. They also seized the trawler.
Saint Martin Islands is very near to Maungdaw Town and Akyab ( Sittwe), the capital of Arakan State, which is easy place for smugglers to exchange their goods with their Bangladeshi business partners, said a local from Saint Martin.
“So the smugglers of narcotic drugs are decided to choose the place for exchange.”
This is the first time, the Yaba tablets are seized in Saint Martin. Local people alleged that most of the Yaba tablets came to Bangladesh from Burma through fishing trawlers and engine boats, in which carried fish and cattle.
