Bangladesh arrests 22,000 in anti-drugs campaign

Bangladesh law enforcers have arrested 22,000 people since launching a crackdown on drug trafficking in May, the country’s Home Minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, said on Monday.

Mr Kamal made the remarks at a news conference organised on the occasion of International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which falls on Tuesday in capital Dhaka.

He said law enforcers do not bring anyone to justice unless they are 100 per cent sure.

“Action is being taken against those people whose names are available on the lists of three intelligence agencies,’’ he stressed.

The minister, however, did not give total drug war casualties.

The casualties of the war on drugs continued to mount, with latest figures showing that about 160 alleged drug users and drug dealers have been killed since the campaign began earlier in May.

(Xinhua/NAN)