The Special Response Battalion (SRB) has arrested four people, including a Chinese national, in Dhaka’s Uttara on suspicion of smuggling medicines abroad, seizing drugs worth Tk 75 million.
The elite police unit said the group bought medicines for cancer and other complicated diseases at lower prices than abroad and sent them to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries by courier.
The four were arrested during a raid in Uttara on Wednesday night on charges of illegally exporting medicines and evading taxes, the SRB said in a media statement.
The suspects are Chinese national Li Fen, 34, Bakul Nahar Bithi, 24, Yunus Ali, 26, and Sajib Howlader, 28.
Tk 606,140 in cash was seized along with the medicines.
According to the SRB, the Chinese woman came to Bangladesh on a 30-day tourist visa in August, 2024. She returned to China two or three days before the visa expired, but came back on another tourist visa a few days later.
Bithi studied at a Chinese university from 2019 to 2023, where she picked up the language. After returning home, she had reportedly been working as an interpreter for the Chinese woman.
The SRB said the Chinese national and her associates had been sending the medicines abroad, selling them at comparatively low prices, particularly for treating cancer and other complex and incurable diseases.
The agency alleges that the group smuggled medicines abroad in cartons weighing 24 to 25kg through courier services.
It also suspects links between the racket and employees of several pharmaceutical companies.
The investigation began after customs officials at Shahjalal International Airport seized a 100kg consignment of medicines on Tuesday, leading to the arrests, as per the press release.
The SRB says legal action will be taken against the suspects and efforts to arrest others involved in the racket will continue.