Bangladesh Authorities Crack Down on Transnational 'Kush' Ring
Law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh have ramped up operations against the synthetic drug 'Kush' following a series of significant seizures. Authorities have uncovered laboratory production methods, intercepted border shipments, and arrested multiple suspects.
Law enforcement and government agencies in Bangladesh have intensified their crackdown on the synthetic drug known as 'Kush', which has been spreading across the country over a four-year period. The Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) has recently seized three shipments of Kush brought into the country by a transnational criminal ring over the course of the last month.
Operational details from the investigations reveal extensive financial networks and logistical planning behind the trafficking. Among the case details recorded by the DNC, individual conspirators such as Zulfikar Mollah and Akram Mollah were tied to specific financial transactions. Zulfikar Mollah secured five lakh rupees from his in-laws alongside a two lakh rupee bank loan, totaling the equivalent of seven lakh rupees used to purchase a specific Kush shipment, for which he was slated to receive a profit of two lakh taka. Additional named figures connected to the ongoing operations include Dr. Abu Sayeed Mia, assistant director of DNC Dhaka Metropolitan North, along with Tousif Hasan and Onaisi Saeed, also known as Rare Saeed.
Border interdictions have further highlighted the scale of the smuggling routes utilized by the transnational ring. On August 6, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) successfully arrested Md. Tarikuzzaman and seized 12 kg of Kush directly from the Satkhira border area.
Air travel has also been heavily targeted by narcotics enforcement teams. On May 26, the DNC arrested a female doctor and her son, who attends an English-medium school, at Shahjalal Airport after intercepting 59 electric vapes containing THC.
The domestic threat extends beyond smuggling to local manufacturing and processing infrastructure. Earlier in January, authorities uncovered a fully operational laboratory in Wari, Dhaka, dedicated to producing and preserving Kush using advanced hydroponic methods.
Multiple state bodies, including the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), remain actively engaged in dismantling the networks responsible for the distribution and production of the drug across Bangladesh.
