Money from drugs buys arms: A dangerous underworld network in Khulna

The underworld is now out of control. It has beaten even the age of extremists. The calls of law enforcement agencies have been of no use in the last three months. The calm air of the industrial and commercial city of Khulna is now heavy with the toxic gang culture of the criminal world and the clatter of illegal arms. A dangerous crime syndicate has spread from the lanes of the city to the river bound char areas. Two things fuel this underworld: the drug trade and extortion.

Sources say drug dealers have a perfect and very complex network with armed men. Illegal arms from across the border of India and Myanmar are entering Khulna through the Rupsha and Bhairab river routes. Cash worth crores of taka every day from retail and wholesale drug spots goes straight to the financiers of the ring. A huge part of this money goes to arms smugglers through hundi, or secret banking channels.

They buy 9mm pistols, revolvers and even small modern automatic weapons. These arms, brought across the border, are handed to local rising gang members and teen cadres. The main underworld godfathers keep them by paying regular salaries and legal costs and supplying free drugs.

Meanwhile, several places in the city are now known as underworld hotspots. Out of fear, ordinary passersby avoid these areas, and even local traders must shut their shops as soon as evening falls. Young cadres armed with firearms guard these spots round the clock. When police activity grows at one spot, it shifts overnight to another point or to floating boats. Around these drug selling spots, the gangs have built their own intelligence and security rings.

Drug dealers pay big “protection fees” to local armed terror groups to run business safely. When one group tries to seize another group’s drug spot, a show of arms and bloody clashes begin. Several sensational murders in Khulna recently came from this gang war. Using arms bought with drug money, gangs also demand large sums of extortion from well known businesses, health centres and doctors in the city. Those who refuse face attacks at gunpoint and vandalism.

The investigation also found that the main source of money for Khulna’s underworld is the drug trade worth hundreds of crores of taka. Criminal groups use the profits to collect illegal firearms across the border. About Tk 100 crore of drugs are traded in Khulna every month. Armed gangs clash and kill regularly to control this market.

Khulna Metropolitan Police has a list of 584 drug dealers in the city. In Khulna division, about 225 listed wholesale drug dealers work under 12 top godfathers. Money is also raised from retail drug sales in Rupsha Ghat, Khalishpur, Harintana, Sonadanga, Labanchara and Daulatpur. Each yaba pill sold at retail gives a profit of Tk 120 to Tk 150, and a big share goes to the top controllers, or godfathers, of the underworld. This huge money goes directly to feeding terror gangs and buying modern arms.

According to intelligence information, many armed groups and teen gangs are active to control Khulna’s crime world. They use firearms openly to hold drug spots and a market worth crores of taka. As a result, killing and counter killing happen one after another. Many top criminals stay in jail or hide abroad. They run this drug and arms network through local aides using mobile phones and digital media. The huge drug profit buys advanced illegal arms, and these arms keep the drug spots and extortion empire going.

Meanwhile, foreign pistols, revolvers, one shooter guns and bullets enter illegally through the Satkhira, Jashore and Chuadanga borders of Khulna division. Drug dealers buy these arms with their profits. Law enforcement drives often recover foreign pistols and bullets along with drug consignments. The same syndicate controls both the drug and arms trades. Law enforcement agencies have also found secret local arms making factories in Khulna.

A review of recent crime in Khulna metropolitan and district areas shows that the hidden reason behind every big incident of violence or murder is, in some way, control of drug spots or sharing of extortion. Drugs worth crores of taka change hands every day at various spots in Rupsha, Labanchara, Tutpara, Baniakhamar, Gobarchaka and Boyra.

Civil society representatives say the crime ring cannot be broken only by seizing drug consignments or arresting retail sellers. They say the money trail must be traced, meaning the source of the huge drug money used to buy deadly arms. The masterminds of the underworld must also be uprooted.

Senior police and RAB officials say law enforcement agencies are running special drives and block raids to control the situation. Combing drives are on, with lists of drug dealers and recovery of illegal arms. They say drives are being strengthened to identify the secret network through which drug money enters the arms market and to bring the criminal rings under the law.

Khulna Metropolitan Police (KMP) Commissioner Mr. Md. Sajjadur Rahman said joint forces have decided to run a special combing drive in Khulna. The aim is to stop law and order from getting worse and to wipe out terror and extortion. It was also decided to raise checkpoints and patrols, set up extra checkpoints at city entrances, highways and key points, and deploy 200 more Ansar members to tighten security. Strict action is also on against motorcycles without registration and licence.