Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has arrested a Rohingya youth with 150,000 yaba tablets during a smuggling attempt along the Balukhali border in Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar.

The information was confirmed in a press release issued on Friday afternoon by Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Jasim Uddin, commanding officer of BGB’s Ukhiya 64 Battalion.

The detainee, Md Sadeq Hossain, 20, is the son of Mohammad Alam of Block 14 at the Hakim Para Rohingya camp in Palongkhali union of Ukhiya.

Lt Col Jasim Uddin said BGB members spotted three suspicious individuals entering Bangladesh through the Narkel Bagan area of the Balukhali border from the Myanmar side early Friday morning. When ordered to stop, the trio dropped a sack and attempted to flee back into Myanmar. BGB personnel chased them down and managed to detain one, while the others escaped.

A search of the area led to the recovery of the abandoned sack, which contained 150,000 yaba pills. The estimated market value of the seized drugs is around Tk4.5 crore.

According to BGB, the arrested man confessed that he had been smuggling the yaba consignment from Myanmar under a Tk9,000 agreement with Abdus Rahim, a known drug trafficker from Rahmaterbil in Palongkhali union. Rahim is a fugitive in several drug smuggling cases previously filed by BGB.

A case has been lodged against the detainee at Ukhiya Police Station under the relevant laws.