Five people were detained in a special anti-drug drive in Sarishabari, Jamalpur district, and a mobile court gave them prison terms and fines.[1] The drive ran from midday to about 4:30 pm on Tuesday, 3 November, at Bausi Bangalipara, Bausi Rishipara and the Sarishabari railway station colony.[2] The taskforce was made up of the Department of Narcotics Control, Bangladesh Ansar, a uniformed auxiliary force, and police, and was led by the upazila executive officer.[2] The mobile court sat that evening, conducted by Upazila Nirbahi Officer and executive magistrate Afroza Afsana, the subdistrict’s chief executive.[1]

Officers seized 1 kg 60 g of ganja, or cannabis, and two tablets of tapentadol, an opioid painkiller, and detained five people.[1] One kilogram of the ganja came from a 45-year-old woman; a 45-year-old man had 20 grams, two men in a railway colony had 20 grams each, and a 27-year-old man was found with the two tapentadol tablets.[2]

The court gave one year of imprisonment without labour to the 45-year-old man and the 45-year-old woman, six months each to the two men in the railway colony, and three months to the 27-year-old man.[1] Each of the five was also fined 100 taka.[1] Afroza Afsana said the administration takes a zero-tolerance position on drugs and that such drives would continue.[1] The seized drugs were destroyed at the scene in the magistrate’s presence.[2]