Female cricketer arrested with 14,000 crystal meth pills in Bangladesh

Nazreen Khan Mukta

One of Bangladesh's top female cricketers could be jailed for life after being caught with 14,000 methamphetamine pills, the police said yesterday. Nazreen Khan Mukta, who plays first-grade cricket in the Dhaka Premier League, was returning from a match in the southeastern city of Cox's Bazar, when the police stopped and searched the team bus at Chittagong.

"During our search, we caught her with 14,000 yaba pills she had kept in packets," local police chief Pronob Chowdhury said, using the local name for tablets of methamphetamine mixed with caffeine, adding that the Ansar VDP star would be charged with drug trafficking, an offence that can carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Cox's Bazar borders Myanmar's conflict-plagued Rakhine state, where authorities say methamphetamine labs produce tens of millions of yaba pills that are shipped to Bangladesh. Officials this month said drug traffickers had been more active since August, when nearly 7 lakh Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar began pouring into Bangladesh. Gangs have been using the Rohingya refugees as mules, hiding drugs in fishing boats used for ferrying persecuted Muslims to safety.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever