3 Chinese nationals held for producing ketamine in Dhaka flat, smuggling to Sri Lanka

Three Chinese men have been arrested for making the illegal drug ketamine in a temporary lab inside an apartment in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and for trying to smuggle it to Sri Lanka hidden in sound equipment. The suspects, identified as Li Bin, 59, Yang Chunsheng, 62, and Yu Zhe, 36, were taken into custody during a raid by the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) at an apartment in Sector 10 of Uttara, Dhaka, last night, March 25. This information was confirmed today, March 26, by Mehedi Hasan, the deputy director of the DNC’s intelligence unit. Earlier on the same day, DNC officials acted on a tip and raided a Tongi branch of an international courier service. They found a parcel meant for Sri Lanka that contained 50 grams of white ketamine powder hidden inside small sound speakers, packed in zipper polybags, along with an air waybill. Using the sender's details, officials tracked the parcel back to the Uttara apartment and conducted a follow-up raid, resulting in the arrest of the three men, Mehedi added. During the raid, officials discovered 6.3 kg of ketamine powder stored in 12 zipper polybags, as well as various lab equipment and chemicals for drug production. These included sulphuric acid, ethanol, alcohol, glass trays, Pyrex beakers, digital weighing scales, a vacuum pump, gas cylinders, and a machine for sealing polybags. Additionally, five smartphones, cash amounting to Tk17,560, Sri Lankan currency worth Tk47,300, a device resembling a pen drive believed to be used for cryptocurrency transactions, and three passports were also seized from the apartment, according to Mehedi.