New panic over drugs produced with adulterated ingredients

Despite strict surveillance by law enforcement agencies and extensive operations along the border, the illicit drug trade continues unabated. Transactions between dealers and buyers are ongoing in various parts of the country. Meanwhile, lured by higher profits, some traffickers have begun producing drugs themselves, creating fresh concerns about the domestic narcotics trade. According to sources at the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), most of these substances are being manufactured using adulterated ingredients.

Several deaths linked to the consumption of adulterated alcohol have recently been reported in the media. In addition to conventional narcotics, several new drugs have entered the country over the past few months. Among them are the new-generation substances known as ‘Kush’ and MDMB. Several individuals have been arrested in connection with shipments of these drugs. Sources say more substances have entered the country under new names.

Demand for these drugs is particularly high among affluent users. However, the authorities are unwilling to disclose their names before seizures are made.

Previously, large consignments of yaba, heroin and synthetic drugs were smuggled in from abroad. Increased border surveillance, improved technology and strengthened intelligence efforts have led to more frequent interceptions of such shipments. As the risks and potential losses associated with trafficking have risen, dealers are seeking alternative methods. Intelligence indicates that some networks have secretly set up small local laboratories to manufacture drugs domestically.

Last Thursday night, a raid in Tongi uncovered a hideout where large quantities of adulterated yaba and chemical substances were seized, and one individual was arrested. Earlier, on 7 January, the DNC discovered illicit alcohol factories and production networks in two separate operations in the Bhatara police station area. On the same day, a modern laboratory in Wari was found to be producing the new-generation drug ‘Kush’.

Although the incidents were separate, both revealed organised and premeditated activities posing serious risks to public health. On 11 December, authorities seized a consignment of MDMB for the first time in the country. The drug was being supplied covertly inside vape e-cigarettes. Several members of the network, which sourced the substance from Malaysia, were arrested by the DNC.

Joint forces claim that international networks are distributing new-generation synthetic drugs through online platforms and courier services. Officials say that as supply strategies evolve, coordinated measures are urgently required across legal, technological and public health sectors, alongside intensified enforcement operations.

Investigators report that several types of drugs are currently active in the market. Experts note that the rapid alteration of chemical compositions in synthetic drugs complicates legal classification and laboratory detection. These substances are often misleadingly marketed as ‘herbal’ or ‘safe’. Although operations are continuing, trafficking networks are quickly adapting their strategies. Sustainable progress, officials believe, depends on coordinated action from border control to digital surveillance, swift legal updates, modern laboratory facilities, and enhanced awareness and rehabilitation programmes. Health experts emphasise that while enforcement is important, prevention and rehabilitation are equally essential. Without a public health-based approach, a lasting solution is unlikely.

Meanwhile, as the name ‘Phensedyl’ has become widely recognised and closely monitored by law enforcement, traffickers have changed tactics to evade detection. Taking advantage of demand, laboratories and factories along the Indian border are producing it under different names, after which it is distributed nationwide through dealer networks.

In recent years, Phensedyl has entered the country under various new names. When it attracts the attention of law enforcement, the name is changed again.

Statistics from the DNC, police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Coast Guard show that in 2024, authorities seized 572,865 bottles and 41 litres of Phensedyl nationwide. In the first 11 months of last year, 312,555 bottles and 82 litres were recovered.

DNC officials claim that as the supply of conventional Phensedyl declines, overall seizures have decreased, but interceptions of shipments marketed under new names are rising.

Officials from the DNC and other law enforcement agencies report that recent raids in various areas have uncovered chemicals, tablet-manufacturing machines and drug production equipment in rented flats, abandoned warehouses and isolated rural houses. In many cases, these laboratories appeared to be ordinary residences or small factories from the outside, while illicit production was taking place inside.

Experts identify three main reasons behind the rise in local drug production: reducing trafficking risks, achieving higher profits at lower cost, and ensuring faster market supply. In addition, raw materials for synthetic drugs are often easily obtainable as legitimate industrial chemicals, enabling producers to operate while evading scrutiny.

DNC intelligence suggests that as production increases, online-based networks are also becoming more active. Through social media, messaging apps and discreet delivery systems, networks are targeting young people in colleges and universities in urban areas.

Md Mehedi Hasan, Deputy Director of the DNC’s Dhaka Division Intelligence Branch, said: “To prevent drug production, enforcement alone is not enough; public awareness and information sharing are equally important. We take immediate legal action upon receiving credible information.”

AIG (Media) at Police Headquarters, AHM Shahadat Hossain, stated that the police continue to maintain a zero-tolerance policy against drugs. Strict surveillance is also being maintained against new substances, and legal action is being taken against those involved.

Crime and social analyst Professor Dr Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury said that if domestic drug production continues, availability will increase, prices will fall, and new users will emerge. In the long term, this will heighten crime, health risks and social instability. Therefore, he stressed, there is no alternative to swift and decisive action.