As a police constable, Shahjahan Mia had committedly carried out his duties throughout his career, fighting the good fight against narcotics, and earned a reputation for his brave endeavours. Which is why it's doubly shocking that soon after his death in 2000, his family got involved in the drug trade.

First his daughter and then the entire family landed on the most wanted list of Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) as Yaba wholesale traders.

It all started when Asma Ahmed Dalia, now 37, daughter of Shahjahan, started selling heroin in 2000, according to DNC officials.

At the time, she used to sell heroin at Sweeper Colony in Dhaka's Mohammadpur area. As she started making more profit, she recruited her mother Monowara Begum, husband Rabiul Islam, sister Swapna Rani and Swapna's husband Shamim Ahmed, brother Syed Mahbubur Rahman and his wife Sumayia Islam, and paternal aunt Mahmuda Rani.

This family, which the DNC officials labelled "Family Company", amassed fortunes within a couple of years. As a cover for their illegal trade, they started a tiles and sanitary ware business, said DNC officials.

In early 2006, as the demand for yaba started to rise, Dalia along with her family shifted to dealing the yellow pills.

Dalia and her husband Rabiul were in the seventh position on DNC's list of 37 top yaba and narcotics traders. The list was released last Monday.

Sources in DNC said that Dalia has at least 23 associates. This group mainly operated in Mohammadpur, Adabar and Elephant Road areas of Dhaka.

After evading prison for years, Dalia, Rabiul and Dalia's mother Monowara were arrested by DNC with 44,000 yaba pills and Tk 2.80 lakh from a flat on Elephant road on July 10 last year.

The following day, Dalia's sister Swapna and her husband Shamim were arrested. Dalia's brother Mahbubur and his wife Sumayia were arrested on April 23 this year from a flat at Nobody Housing in Adabar.

Helal Uddin, an inspector of DNC, involved in the drive to arrest the family, told The Daily Star yesterday that they were chasing the family for years but were not able to arrest them as they managed to flee or destroy the drugs before law enforcement reached their hideout.

All eight family members were arrested but Monowara and Mahmuda obtained bail as they are over 60, and Swapna got bail because of her pregnancy. Others are still in jail.

“We have checked the bank accounts of Dalia and found around Tk 2.20 crore,” said Helal.

Helal further said that they have submitted the documents of Flat no 8/B at Sell Siddique Plaza on 173 Elephant Road, which Dalia bought and furnished for Tk 4 crore, to the court.

Interrogating Dalia and her family members, the DNC officials came to know that one “Nasir Uddin” from Satkania is their main yaba supplier. 

“Analysing the database, we have come to know that Nasir is wanted in at least 11 separate cases filed with different police stations,” said Inspector Helal.

Regarding Nasir's activities, DNC officials said Nasir used to send the yaba consignment to Dalia's family through courier services. The DNC officials seized 20,000 yaba pills from Sundarban Courier Service's Motijheel office on October 13 last year but Nasir managed to flee.

“We are now trying to arrest the other ringleader and associates of the family,” said Fazlul Haque Khan, superintendent of DNC intelligence wing.

Nasir has been listed as "yaba godfather", and is in the fifth position on DNC's top yaba and narcotics traders list. He is listed as a "developer" and resides at Rajghata, Satkania.

35 OTHER YABA TRADERS

Besides Dalia, DNC's latest shortlist includes 36 other yaba and narcotics traders, of whom 5 are labelled as "godfather", two as "narcotics dealer" and 30 as "top wholesale trader".

The Daily Star obtained a copy of the list that included Ishtiaq Ahmed of Mohammadpur, Dhaka; Fazlul Karim of Vandaria, Pirojpur; Nasir Uddin of Satkania; Rahima Begum of Jatrabari, Old Dhaka; Raju Ahmed of Demra, Dhaka.

According to DNC officials, Ishtiaq is wanted in at least 16 cases, Fazlul in 15 separate cases, Nasir in 11 cases, Rahima in 14 cases and Raju in 13 separate cases. The DNC has started a 15-day long special drive to arrest these 37 top drug

traders.

Mukul Jyoti Chakma, deputy director (Dhaka Metro) of DNC, said, “We are hopeful that we can arrest them but we often face difficulties as we have no armed manpower and these yaba traders are armed with guns and ammunition.” 

Jamal Uddin Ahmed, director general of DNC, said their drive was always on but they have become more vigilant as the PM recently instructed to go tougher against narcotics.

Besides the DNC list, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) also prepared a list of around 100 top drug dealers of the city to bring them to book as part of the on-going special anti-narcotics drive.