Over 100 Drug Dealers Surrender In Bangladesh Crackdown

Over 100 Drug Dealers Surrender In Bangladesh Crackdown

Over 100 Bangladeshi drug dealers have surrendered to the authorities at a pre-scheduled ceremony in a coastal town seeking clemency and vowing to go back to a normal life.

The unprecedented event on Saturday was prompted by a Philippines-style massive anti-narcotic crackdown, which led to the killing of nearly 300 people and arrests of about 25,000 others since May of last year.

Bangladesh last year launched a "war" on drugs following a proliferation of illegal substances in the South Asian nation of 165 million people, mostly of cheap methamphetamine pills known as "yaba".

Those who surrendered before the country's Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan at Teknaf town in the coastal Cox's Bazar district included drug traders, traffickers and several "godfathers".

They surrendered a total of 350,000 vanilla-scented, pink-coloured pills of "yaba" - which derives its name from a Thai word that means a "crazy medicine" - and dozens of illegal firearms.