Underwater yaba smuggling bid foiled on Naf river

A sophisticated underwater route allegedly used to smuggle yaba from Myanmar into Bangladesh through the Naf River has been uncovered by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in Ukhiya of Cox’s Bazar, where 220,000 yaba pills, a foreign-made pistol and ammunition were seized.

Three alleged smugglers- Md Rocky Ahmed, 26, Belal Uddin, 35, and Khorshed Alam, 26, all residents of Balukhali in Ukhiya- were arrested during the operation, said Lieutenant Colonel Zahirul Islam, commander of the 64 BGB Battalion, at a press conference at the battalion’s media hall on Tuesday. According to the BGB commander, a patrol team from Palangkhali Border Outpost (BOP) raided the Anjumanpara area of Ukhiya around 9:30pm on Monday after spotting four to five suspicious people near a makeshift (machang) house. They attempted to flee after being challenged by the patrol, and three were caught after a chase.

The BGB said smugglers had been using equipment to transport yaba underwater from Myanmar into Bangladesh through the Faisya Canal in Palangkhali.

The carrier was reportedly pulled along the canal using an electric motor, steel cables and cranes. As the canal follows a winding course, the smugglers allegedly used cranes to guide the carrier through successive straight sections, making it difficult to detect from the water’s surface.

One member of the smuggling network would reportedly pretend to be fishing while guiding the submerged carrier by hand. At each bend, smaller cranes were moved from a larger fixed crane to the next section to pull the carrier forward.

The BGB estimated that a carrier of this type could transport around 30 lakh yaba pills in a single trip.
Acting on information provided by the detainees, the BGB recovered a foreign-made pistol, two magazines, 11 rounds of ammunition, a mobile phone, nine cranes, a special submersible carrier, about two kilometres of steel wire, a high-powered battery, an electric motor and other equipment used for smuggling.

Lieutenant Colonel Zahirul Islam said legal proceedings had been initiated against the arrested persons and that they were being prepared for handover to Ukhiya Police Station.

Earlier, on 9 September, the BGB recovered 14 lakh yaba pills in the Hnila area of Teknaf while smugglers were allegedly dragging a consignment through a waterway using a rope. The latest incident involved a more sophisticated version of the same technology-based method, according to the force. The 64 BGB Battalion said it had recovered an estimated 1.663 crore yaba pills in anti-drug operations between January and October 2026. During the same period, 228 people were arrested on suspicion of involvement in drug smuggling.