And they now gear up narcotic jihad
Fri, 2006-05-19
12:07
By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
Dhaka, 19 May, (Asiantribune.com): It is current news in Bangladesh.
Owner of pro-radical vernacular daily Naya Diganta (New Sky), which was
established with dubious fund from Saudi source a few years back, is now under
massive interrogation in remand for his involvement in trafficking huge
quantity of heroin (narcotic) to European and American destinations.
Bangladeshi intelligence agencies arrested Badruddoza Chowdhury Momen, owner
of BD Foods, a company exporting ‘spices’ to Western destinations, for
trafficking huge amount of heroin which were packed inside the sachets
of spices. On interrogation, Badruddoza confessed to the interrogators that he
has smuggled out narcotics worth few hundred million dollars to
United States and
Europe
since 2003.
He said, drugs for trafficking to Western
destinations were coming from Afghanistan
via Pakistan.
“It is a part of our noble responsibility to spoil the Western society with
drugs”, Badruddoza said.
BD Foods Chairman has claimed that a top-level leader and member of
parliament of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh
helped him smuggle several consignments of ‘illegal goods’ to the United Kingdom.
He said, in 2005, his company smuggled 75 kilograms of heroin to United Kingdom
and also claimed that another Jamaat leader made efforts to save him from the
smuggling charges the police brought after four months of investigation.
‘The Jamaat-e-Islami a lawmaker from a Chittagong
(port city in Bangladesh)
parliamentary constituency, who is in shipping business, provided all kinds of
support (to Badruddoza) to manipulate the export process,’ a member of the
investigation committee told. In exchange for the favor, BD Foods provided the
expense of Jamaat activities on a regular basis. Badurddoza also confessed that
he is involved in smuggling of narcotics to various Western destinations since
2000.
The syndicate also tried to smuggle to the United
States 150 kilograms of heroin, concealed in consignments
of handicraft, by air through Zia
International Airport,
which was however, caught and seized by members of law enforcing agencies
following secret tips from sources. It was later revealed that a former staff
of Badruddoza disclosed the information to law enforcing agencies, as he was
sacked from his job recently.
Badruddoza, along with Mir Kashem Ali, Chairman of Rabeta-E-Alam, an NGO
funded by Saudi Arabia,
established a vernacular daily named Naya Diganta in 2004. It was later
disclosed that, dubious Arab sources invested more that 20 million dollars in
this project.
With that amount, initiators of Naya Diaganta offered the colored
broadsheet daily just at half the price than any other competitor daily, which
very dramatically brought the newspaper to the second largest dailies in
Bangladesh.
According to editorial policy, this vernacular daily side Jamaat-E-Islami
Bangladesh and other Islamist radical forces.
Internationally, it supports Iran,
Palestine, Laden,
Hamas etc, for obvious reason. It has been learnt that, owners of this
vernacular daily shifted a significant amount that they received for the
publication of the newspaper, in various dubious businesses, including that of
trafficking in narcotics, for quick cash. Even though Badruddoza is now in
police custody, a number of influential Islamist leaders as well some of the
Arab envoys in
Dhaka are pursuing with the
government to finally get this drug don released.
On condition of anonymity, members of the interrogation and investigation
team told reporters that, this racket smuggled narcotics worth millions of
dollars to United States and Europe in past several years, and arrest of
Badruddoza Chowdhury Moment might not end the trafficking as several other
groups are also involved in the same trade.
In recent years, extremist groups like Al-Qaeda are putting special
interests in trafficking narcotics to Western countries through their palls,
which they term as Narcotic Jihad. They dream of paralyzing the Western
societies with the addiction of drugs.
Meanwhile, owners of vernacular daily Naya Diganta has applied for
broadcast license to establish a private television channel named Diganta
TV.
Bangladesh
government is actively considering the proposal for giving license to this
group to begin an Islamist television channel.
Meanwhile, brother of Prime Minister, Major (Retired) Sayeed Iskander has
got the broadcast license of Islamic TV, which goes on air in July. Earlier
several radical leaders applied for the license of Voice of Islam, another TV
channel, which is also awaiting approval in the ministry. It is observed that,
Islamist radicals are giving emphasis on media by establishing several
newspapers and television channels, with the objective of giving support to
Islamist revolution in the country.
- Asian Tribune -