VZCZCXRO7047
PP RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHKA #1014/01 3070946
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 030946Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9616
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0187

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 001014 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/INSB, SCA/RA, AND INL FOR JLYLE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINS SNAR IN BM BG
SUBJECT: BANGLADESH: DRAFT 2009-10 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS 
CONTROL STRATEGY REPORT PART I, DRUGS AND CHEMICAL CONTROL 
 
REF: STATE 97228 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (U) There was no evidence that Bangladesh was a 
significant cultivator or producer of narcotics.  Government 
of Bangladesh (GOB) officials charged with controlling and 
preventing illegal substance trafficking lacked sufficient 
training, equipment, continuity of leadership, and other 
resources to detect and interdict the flow of drugs.  Law 
enforcement agencies continued to interdict narcotics, from 
the Golden Crescent in South Asia and the Golden Triangle in 
Southeast Asia, smuggled into Bangladesh along its porous 
land border with India and Burma and by fishing trawlers. 
Corruption hampers the country's drug interdiction efforts. 
Bangladesh is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. 
 
Status of Country 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) The country's porous borders facilitated the illegal 
flow of narcotics from neighboring countries and made 
Bangladesh an attractive transfer point for drugs transiting 
the region.  Assessments conducted by several U.S. agencies 
in 2008 confirmed numerous land, sea and air border security 
vulnerabilities in Bangladesh that could be easily exploited 
by narcotics traffickers.  The Bangladesh Department of 
Narcotics Control (DNC) said it was unable to estimate the 
number of drug addicts in the country, but unofficial sources 
estimate between 100,000 and 1.7 million addicts, with 
20,000-25,000 injecting drug users and 45,000 heroin smokers. 
 These estimates indicate by the wide range of the 
approximation the lack of any real knowledge of the extent of 
drug abuse.  Other drugs used in Bangladesh were 
methamphetamines, marijuana, and the codeine-based cough 
syrup phensidyl.  Most of the "yaba" circulating in 
Bangladesh is smuggled from neighboring countries such as 
Burma. 
 
Country Actions against Drugs in 2009 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Policy Initiatives.  Although government officials 
said in 2007 a new interagency monitoring group had been 
created, the Home Affairs Ministry said in October 2008 no 
such agency existed. 
 
¶4.  (U) Law Enforcement Efforts.  Law enforcement units 
engaged in operations to counter narcotics included the 
police, the DNC, the border defense forces known as the 
Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), customs, the navy, the coast guard, 
local magistrates and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an 
elite group that played a leading role in fighting terrorism, 
corruption and narcotics abuse.  Customs, the navy, the coast 
guard and the DNC all suffered from poor funding, inadequate 
equipment, understaffing and lack of training.  For example, 
the DNC budget for 2008-2009 was 184 million taka (about $2.6 
million), only slightly more than the actual expenditure for 
the previous fiscal year.  Its work force of about 940 people 
also was 337 positions short of the number approved by the 
government.  The DNC did not maintain a presence at the 
international airports in Chittagong and Sylhet and only two 
officials were posted at Dhaka airport.  DNC officers 
throughout the country were not authorized to carry weapons. 
Although RAB had become perhaps the highest-profile 
anti-narcotics force in the country, it did not have a 
special counter-narcotics section.  Its drug-fighting 
resources, which appeared stronger than other law-enforcement 
agencies, included a recently expanded canine corps of 51 
dogs. 
 
¶5.  (U) The smuggling, diversion and abuse of pharmaceuticals 
originating from India is considered one of the single 
largest drug problems in Bangladesh.  The BDR seized 14.7 kg 
of heroin, 9,626.4 kg of marijuana, and 32,870 liters of 
phensidyl, a codeine-based, highly addictive cough syrup 
produced in India, from January through September 2009.  The 
DNC keeps tabs primarily on seizures by its own officers. 
Drugs seized by the department from January through September 
2009 (latest statistics) are as follows: 17.6 kg of heroin 
 
DHAKA 00001014  002 OF 003 
 
 
(compared to 29.0 kg in all of 2008 and 20.9 kg in 2007); 
1,540.154 kg of marijuana (compared to 2,302 kg in 2008 and 
1,768 kg in 2007); more than 46,187 bottles of phensidyl; 83 
ampoules of pethedine, an injectable opiate with medical 
application as an anesthetic; and 3,179 tablets of yaba 
tablets which consist of caffeine and methamphetamine. 
Meanwhile, RAB reported 516 drug related arrests as of 
September 2009. 
 
¶6.  (U) Corruption.  The drive against corruption launched by 
the Caretaker Government in January 2007 slowed following the 
December 2008 national elections.  The Awami League formed 
the Government following elections, replacing the Caretaker 
Government.  The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) faced 
criticism from both ruling and opposition party leaders for 
what they described as "harassment" of politicians during the 
two years of the state of emergency.  The ACC saw a change of 
leadership and a government review committee recommended 
withdrawal of 875 cases, mostly involving Awami League 
leaders, as of October 2009.  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 
vowed to continue the campaign against corruption.  The GOB 
did not, as a matter of government policy, encourage or 
facilitate illicit production or distribution of drugs or 
controlled substances or launder proceeds from their 
transactions.  No senior official had been identified as 
engaging in, encouraging, or facilitating the production or 
distribution of drugs or controlled substances. 
 
¶7.  (U) Agreements and Treaties.  Bangladesh is a party to 
the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1961 UN Single Convention as 
amended by the 1972 Protocol, and the 1971 UN Convention on 
Psychotropic Substances.  Bangladesh acceded to the UN 
Convention against Corruption in February 2007.  The GOB and 
USG signed a Letter of Agreement on Law Enforcement and 
Narcotics Control (LOA) in September 2002 under which the 
U.S. provides equipment and technical assistance to the DNC 
and its central chemical laboratory.  The LOA also provided 
for training, via the U.S. Department of Justice, to law 
enforcement personnel involved in counter-narcotics 
activities. 
 
¶8.  (U) Cultivation/Production.  The International Narcotics 
Control Board estimated small quantities of cannabis are 
cultivated in Bangladesh for local use.  The DNC acknowledged 
that some small amount of cannabis is cultivated in the hill 
tracts near Chittagong, in the southern silt islands, and in 
the northeastern region, claiming it is for local 
consumption.  The DNC also reported that as soon as knowledge 
of a cannabis crop reached its officers, that crop was 
destroyed in concert with law enforcement agencies.  The DNC 
said there were no significant crop destruction activities in 
the first 10 months of 2009. 
 
¶9.  (U) Drug Flow/Transit.  The most frequently used drug is 
heroin, thereafter, phensidyl (Codeine based cough syrup) 
illegally transit from India and the third highest is 
cannabis.  Bangladesh has borders with India on its three 
sides except the south, which stands on the Bay of Bengal. 
There were few media reports of major narcotics seizures in 
the first 10 months of 2009.  The International Narcotics 
Control Board in its 2007 report cited evidence that "heroin 
consignments destined for Europe are increasingly passing 
through Bangladesh."  It said heroin was smuggled into 
Bangladesh by courier from Pakistan, by commercial vehicle or 
trains from India, by truck or public transport from Burma 
and by sea via the Bay of Bengal.  The Chittagong seaport 
appeared to be the main exit point for narcotics leaving 
Bangladesh, the report added.  Bangladesh Navy officials said 
they suspected Bangladesh was a transit zone for heroin 
smuggled out of the Golden Crescent in South Asia and the 
Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia.  Smugglers used 
Bangladeshi, Burmese and Thai Fishing Trawlers for 
trafficking heroin into Bangladesh. 
 
¶10.  (U) Several recent U.S. government assessments confirmed 
vulnerabilities along Bangladesh's land, sea and air borders. 
 One report from the Department of Homeland Security 
described a chaotic situation at Benapole, the main land 
border crossing between India and Bangladesh, which could 
easily be exploited by narcotics traffickers.  The report 
said examination of luggage items was said to be cursory at 
 
DHAKA 00001014  003 OF 003 
 
 
best.  Opium-based pharmaceuticals and other drugs containing 
controlled substances are being smuggled into Bangladesh from 
India.  White (injectable) heroin comes in from Burma. 
 
¶11. (U) Domestic Programs/Demand Reduction.  Law enforcement 
officials believe that drug abuse, while previously a problem 
among the ultra-poor, is becoming a major problem among the 
wealthy and well-educated young.  The Department of Narcotics 
Control ran treatment centers in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, 
Khulna, Jessore and Comilla.  In the nine months through 
September 2008, 3,120 patents received treatment at the 
government facilities, the vast majority of them being male. 
A drug addicts' rehabilitation organization, APON, operates 
six long-term residential rehabilitation centers, including 
the first centers in Bangladesh for the rehabilitation of 
female addicts (opened in 2005 and a more permanent facility 
in 2009).  APON says it is the only organization that 
includes street children in its drug rehabilitation program. 
The International Narcotics Control Board in its 2007 report 
said prescription controls in Bangladesh were not adequately 
enforced at the retail level.  It said pharmaceutical 
preparations were stolen from both hospitals and pharmacies. 
 
U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶12.  (U) Bilateral Cooperation.  The USG continued to support 
Bangladesh's counter-narcotics efforts.  The U.S. Embassy in 
Dhaka provided a grant of $52,000 to APON for a new 
rehabilitation center for female drug addicts, which opened 
in November 2009. 
 
¶13.  (U) The Road Ahead.  The USG will continue to provide 
law enforcement and forensic training for GOB officials, 
which the USG hopes will be useful to Bangladesh's 
counter-narcotics efforts.  New Delhi-based Drug Enforcement 
Administration officials visited Dhaka in November 2009 to 
liaise with Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies about future 
counter-narcotics cooperation. 
 
MORIARTY