Joint initiatives underway to prevent drug smuggling: PM

rime Minister and Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday told Parliament that joint measures were being taken with neighbouring countries to stop the smuggling of drugs into the country as part of the ongoing anti-narcotics campaign.

“We are taking measures in consultation with neighbouring countries to find out the points through which drugs enter into Bangladesh,” she said while replying to a supplementary question on drug smuggling during the premier’s question-answer session.

Responding to the question from treasury bench lawmaker Didarul Alam of Chattogram-4 constituency, Sheikh Hasina said her government was carrying out both “preventive and punitive” actions against narcotics, considering it as a menace as dangerous as terrorism and militancy.

“We are giving equal importance to narcotics and terrorism and militancy, taking both preventive and punitive measures to root out the menaces from society,” the premier said.

In an apparent reference to the stern anti-narcotics campaign, she said “appropriate measures” were being taken against people involved in smuggling, selling and purchasing drugs alongside creating enhanced social awareness against drug abuse.

The premier said in the recent past the drug abuse appeared as a great concern while the ongoing security crackdown largely contained the trend.

The premier called upon all particularly the lawmakers alongside parents, guardians and teachers to keep children around them so they could not be exposed to the clutches of drug as it cripple them both physically and mentally and simultaneously affect their families.

She also asked the guardians and parents to stay alert about the movements of their children and know whom they were mixing with.