DHAKA: Bangladesh is to ban the import of the cold-medicine component pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in illicit methamphetamine production, anti-narcotics officials said, after purchases spiked in tandem with a boom in the illegal drug “ya ba.”
The soaring popularity of ya ba, a mix of methamphetamine and caffeine usually consumed in pill form, is rattling governments across Asia, with annual sales in Bangladesh alone estimated at $3 billion.
Bangladesh consumes around 2 million ya ba pills a day, most of it made in labs in the lawless border regions of Myanmar, according to national and transnational anti-drugs officials.
The ban on pseudoephedrine imports was approved late last month and will be announced soon, according to three officials at the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) in Dhaka. It was aimed at choking off supplies for domestic ya ba production before it becomes too established, they said.
“With this decision, no neighboring country, including Myanmar, can say that Bangladesh is a hub for producing ya ba,” said Nazrul Islam Sikder, a senior DNC official.
Pseudoephedrine is a decongestant used in popular over-the-counter cold remedies. But it can also be used as a so-called precursor in methamphetamine production, prompting governments around the world to impose new controls on the drug in recent years with some, such as Mexico, banning imports altogether.
Bangladesh’s annual pseudoephedrine imports have jumped more than six times to around 20 tons from five years ago, according to the minutes of a December government meeting on the issue.
A 2014 report by the US Department of State identified Bangladesh as a source and transit point for the chemical diverted to make the drug methamphetamine elsewhere.
Another senior DNC official denied any international pressure behind the latest ban. He requested anonymity.
