The press statement said that a coast guard patrol team—acting on a tip-off—began pursuing a boat near the Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company around 2am. Realizing they were being followed, the smugglers capsized the boat on a river bank, threw a sack of yaba tablets overboard, and then fled the scene.

The tablets were seized and will be handed over to Bangladesh’s Department of Narcotics Control, according to coast guard sources

Captain Shahidul Islam, the local coast guard zone commander, said the tablets might have come from Myanmar. So far, almost all the yaba tablets seized by Bangladeshi authorities have been smuggled into Chittagong from Myanmar, which is well-known as a major producer of synthetic drugs.

“The smugglers may have been trying to smuggle yaba tablets into Chittagong from Myanmar using new [river and sea] routes now that we have started conducting regular operations in Teknaf, Shahparir Dwip, St. Martin's Island, and Cox's Bazar Sadar,” said Captain Shahidul.

“[After smuggling the drugs into Bangladeshi using these new routes] the tablets are transported to Dhaka and other parts of Bangladesh by road,” he added.

On July 1st, coast guard members arrested a man with 15,000 yaba tablets worth around 775,000 taka on a fishing boat docked on the outer edge of Chittagong Port. In addition, detectives seized 30,000 yaba tablets worth about 1 million taka in Chittagong’s Fisheri Ghat district on June 20th.

Most recently, detectives detained four people and seized 50,000 yaba pills along with yaba manufacturing equipment in Dhaka on August 24th, according to Masudur Rahman, a deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police who handles media relations.