A kush trail is emerging through Bangladesh. But is the country a gateway, a market or both?

A kush trail is emerging through Bangladesh. But is the country a gateway, a market or both? Crossroads of the Kush Flow Flights of forbidden freight: Six Indian couriers flying from Bangkok carrying 30kg of contraband were caught High-stakes boutique botany: Lethal indoor grows and potent THC strains target elite urban party circles Double-edged danger zone: Dhaka is exposed as an international transit hub and a burgeoning retail market They were all Indian nationals, but they arrived in Bangladesh from Thailand. When airport officials searched them, they found Thai baht, Indian rupees, US dollars -- and kush, a drug still relatively unfamiliar in Bangladesh. In July and August this year, officials of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) arrested six Indian nationals at Dhaka's Shahjalal International Airport and seized nearly 30kg of kush from them. The volume and frequency of the seizures have raised an unsettling question: Is kush slowly finding a market in Bangladesh? Or is the country being used as a transit point for the drug? Officials of the DNC say both possibilities exist. They also say some Bangladeshis may be involved in the trafficking. Five Shipments, Two Months According to the department, nearly 29.34kg of kush was recovered in five operations during July and August. Four of those consignments were intercepted in August alone. On Aug 27, Abdul Rahman, 46, and Mohammad Iqbal Ansari, 45, both from West Bengal, were arrested after arriving from Bangkok. A search of their trolley bags yielded 5.12kg of kush. Three days earlier, on Aug 24, Sanawar Ali, 36, and Imtiaz Ahmed, 36, from North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, were arrested after arriving from Bangkok. Officials found 5.04kg of kush concealed beneath Indian sarees, along with three litres of foreign liquor and 24 Indian sarees. On Aug 22, officials arrested Hussain Abdul Kader Sheikh, 48, from Karnataka after he arrived in Dhaka on a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok. Three kilograms of kush was found hidden beneath clothes in his trolley bag. Earlier, on Aug 18, two Kolkata residents, Akash Dube, 28, and Akash Pandey, 34, arrived on a Thai Airways flight and fled, leaving two trolleys behind. A search of the bags produced 4.18kg of kush. A case was filed with the airport police station, while both men remain fugitives. In July, meanwhile, narcotics officials arrested an Indian national identified only as Zulfikar at Shahjalal Airport and seized nearly 11kg of kush. From a Niche Drug to a Growing Concern The first reported seizure of kush in Bangladesh came on the night of Aug 2, 2022, when the Rapid Action Battalion arrested a man in Dhaka's Gulshan. At a subsequent press briefing, the RAB said the man did not use the drug himself. Instead, he manufactured it or brought it from abroad and supplied it to users through different channels. The drug was supplied particularly at parties in affluent parts of Dhaka, and information from those circles had led the RAB to him. The RAB said the man had rented a flat in Mohammadpur and established a kush-growing operation using a temperature-controlled grow tent, a specialised enclosure designed for cultivation, with the intention of marketing the drug commercially. Law-enforcing agencies have seized kush several times in parts of Bangladesh since then. In January this year, narcotics officials arrested Tawsif Hasan's girlfriend and the caretaker of his house in Dhaka's Wari over allegations of growing kush in a laboratory there. The agency said Tawsif had learnt the technique in California in the United States and remotely controlled and monitored the laboratory's temperature from there. His girlfriend assisted him. Then, on Aug 6, Border Guard Bangladesh's 33 Battalion seized a large consignment of 12kg of kush in Satkhira as it was being smuggled into India. A young man was also arrested. The Drug Behind the Seizures Asked about kush, an assistant chemical examiner at the DNC said: 'Kush is essentially a separate variety or subspecies of the cannabis plant, which has been made more potent by mixing it with chemicals. It originally comes from areas at the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains. Cannabis suitable for kush is cultivated there.' On its cultivation and production, he said: 'Ordinary cannabis plants grow naturally in the environment and do not do well in shade. But plants suitable for kush can be cultivated indoors, using artificial light and a greenhouse method. 'From a chemical standpoint, the principal ingredient in both ordinary cannabis and kush is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), but kush plants contain more THC than ordinary cannabis plants, making them more potent.' Public health expert Lelin Choudhury told bdnews24.com about the long-term effects: 'Cannabis or cannabinoids are essentially the main components of marijuana, which, when present in any form, make people addicted and cause intoxication. 'Using this drug damages people's mental health, destroys their appetite and causes constipation. Alongside becoming irritable in their behaviour, physical capacity and sexual ability gradually decline.' He said prolonged loss of appetite for food and nutrition causes weight loss and physical illness. 'In addition, inadequate sleep at night, reduced ability to concentrate and loss of social acceptance can push a person's entire life towards an extremely unhealthy situation.' Is Bangladesh Becoming a Gateway? Mohammad Badruddin, additional director (intelligence) of the DNC, said kush is not a commonly used drug in Bangladesh. 'In the past, students or workers coming from different countries would bring small quantities for personal use or for friends.' But the larger consignments now being intercepted from foreign nationals and air passengers suggest something different, he said. 'Their destination is not here. They may be using connecting flights -- Thailand through Bangladesh, through another country. They were probably developing a channel as part of this, which has come to our attention.' Asked whether a local kush market was emerging, he said: 'Although several cases and laboratories have previously been seized in the country, they were essentially limited to personal use and no direct evidence of an effort to create a market for sale has yet been found. 'Given the bulk amounts or large quantities currently being recovered, it is believed that Bangladesh is being used as a gateway. However, as a strategy to create a new market, traders may initially try to increase the number of users by providing the drug free of charge, which could later turn into a business.' What the Investigations Reveal The recent Dhaka airport seizures were led by Mohammad Abu Sayeed Mia, assistant director of the DNC, Dhaka Metro (North). Asked about progress in the investigations, he said: 'All the incidents follow the same pattern. Everyone involved in these incidents is an Indian national. 'We have not yet been able to determine specifically whether they are connected to any network in Bangladesh. The matter is under investigation. If there is any progress, we will be able to share it.' Cases have been filed with Shahjalal Airport Police Station. Inspector Kamrul Hasan Talukder told bdnews24.com that the narcotics department is leading the investigations. 'Although cases or FIRs have been filed with the police, the Department of Narcotics Control is conducting the overall investigation into the suspects and the main cases. The police are also looking into the matter from their own perspective. 'Some information has already emerged from the investigation, and efforts are under way to determine where the smugglers were taking the drugs using this route. We have also found the involvement of some people in Bangladesh. It is not possible to disclose those details now in the interest of the investigation.' An intelligence agency member working at the airport told bdnews24.com on condition of anonymity, 'Indians can travel to Thailand on a visa-free basis. Airfares on this route are also low. Members of international drug networks are exploiting exactly this opportunity. 'The arrested Indian nationals are communicating with a network in Thailand and collecting kush from there. They are then bringing it to Bangladesh by air. Their aim is to expand the market here.' The official added, 'There is an understanding between the network that has been caught and a network in Bangladesh. It is believed that members of this network are also helping the two Indians who fled.' For years, kush remained a niche drug on the margins of Bangladesh's narcotics landscape. Now, nearly 30kg has arrived through one airport in two months, carried by people following the same broad route. Whether Dhaka is simply a stop along the way or the beginning of a new market, the seizures suggest that something in the kush trade is changing -- and Bangladesh is already part of the story.