The Bangladesh Coast Guard on Sunday arrested seven yaba dealers with 500,000 yaba pills worth around Tk15 crore in a drive in the Bay of Bengal, 25/30km from Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar.

The arrestees were identified as Mohorom Ali, Abudur Sukur, Amanullah,  Nurul Alom, Monaf , Jahid Hossain and Abdul Petan, said Ltd Commander Amirul Haque of Teknaf Coast Guard station in a press briefing at around 2pm on Sunday.

He said: “On a tip-off, a team of the maritime law enforcement force conducted the drive in the Bay 25/30km from Teknaf’s Baharchara around 1:30 am on Sunday and recovered the pills from a fishing boat and arrested seven red-handed.”

It was suspected that the drug was being smuggled on the sea route from Myanmar to Bangladesh. The detainees were handed over to Teknaf Model police station and a case was filed, the officer added.

Deshsangbad/dt/fh/mmh