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drug trafficking, trading, and abuse mainly due to a lack of political will.
“Organised groups, from influential quarters to small dealers, are involved in the trade. Since the authorities know the routes, carriers, dealers and users, failure to control it raises serious questions,” he said.
The report said cannabis remained the most prevalent drug in the country, accounting for more than 50 to 60 percent of cases detected by the DNC in 2025.
The annual DNC report said Bangladesh’s location between major drug-producing regions, along with its borders with India and Myanmar, has made it vulnerable to trafficking.
It said yaba and crystal meth continue to enter the country mainly through the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, while traffickers are also using coastal, riverine and other alternative routes.
The report identified Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram, Cumilla, Brahmanbaria, Narsingdi, Faridpur, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Tangail, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Natore, Naogaon, Pabna, Sirajganj, Bogura, Joypurhat, Dinajpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Satkhira, Jashore, Kushtia and Chuadanga as among the narcotics-prone districts.
It also listed several vulnerable trafficking points along the western, northern, and southeastern borders. In the southeast, Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar, Shahporir Island, St Martin’s Island, Ukhiya and other coastal and border points remain critical.
The DNC report said traffickers were increasingly using social media, online marketplaces, encrypted messaging apps, courier services and digital payment systems.
According to the report, some traffickers swallow yaba tablets, hide drugs in shoes, walking sticks and vehicle tyres, and use women and children as carriers.
At the Friday’s event, the home minister said the government was following a zero-tolerance policy against drugs and working to implement its anti-drug strategy strictly.
He said changes were being made to the legal framework, on the advice of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre, to track money laundering through anonymous SIMs, mobile financial services, OTP and WhatsApp.
The minister said the government was not limiting its action to retailers or carriers, but was also committed to bringing the masterminds, financiers and godfathers of the drug trade to justice.
Jamaat MPs
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He further claimed that a minister had previously defended the recruitment of more than 11,000 employees by S Alam, suggesting possible links between the businessman and the government.
He also called upon the government to expedite legal proceedings to bring back former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and other “accomplices of fascism” to face trial.
Separately, Shahjahan Chowdhury criticised remarks by the home minister, who had earlier said, “Fakhrul Islam is not Islam, Jamaat-e-Islami is not Islam.”
In response, Shahjahan said people in Chattogram nowadays joke that religious rulings no longer come from Islamic seminaries but from parliament, describing the home minister as a “modern-day mufti”.
He argued that Jamaat’s century-long history spoke for itself and rejected the need for any official declaration on whether it was an Islamic party.