DNC Seizes Record 65.9 Kg Shisha, Arrests 3 in Online Ring
Photo: Courtesy
Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) seized 65.9 kg of shisha, the largest single-operation recovery in the country’s history and arrested three members of a coordinated ring for selling shisha online.
Additional Director (Intelligence) of the DNC Mohammad Badruddin confirmed the matter in a press briefing on Friday at the DNC headquarters in Tejgaon, Dhaka. During the operation, officials also confiscated 41 hookahs, 40 kg of shisha charcoal, and five mobile phones used for drug trafficking.
Badruddin said, “Acting on a tip-off, DNC discovered that brothers Ahmed Sharifi, 34, and Mehdad Sharifi, 34, led a ring selling shisha and smoking equipment nationwide via Facebook, using courier services for delivery.
On 2 July, the DNC intercepted two one-kilogram parcels in Bhatara and Malibagh. Following the sender’s data, they raided a flat in Kalachandpur, Gulshan, arresting the brothers and recovering 45.9 kg of shisha and 20 hookahs.
Later that night, based on their confession, officials raided in Nurachala, Bhatara, arresting Md Maqsud Alam, 40, and seizing another 18 kg of shisha and 21 hookahs from his home.
Badruddin added, “Preliminary interrogation revealed that the two brothers spent a long time in Iran. After gaining experience in the shisha market and supply system there, they returned to the country and started the same business.”
The ring used various mobile financial service accounts to hide their identities while supplying products nationwide. Digital forensic analysis of the seized phones has provided information on numerous buyers and distributors.
DNC said that they have intensified cyber surveillance and financial intelligence to maintain the government’s zero tolerance policy against drugs.
