They call it "the drug of madness": in Bangladesh, the consumption of the methamphetamine Yaba exploded in 25 years in only five years. According to official estimates, up to two million pills are thrown daily into the country, which has twice as many inhabitants as Germany.
The methamphetamine Yaba was already in 2008 in Thailand, German soldiers should have taken them in the Second World War as Pervitin to the fight performance increase. In Bangladesh, currently estimated two million pills a day.
The drug of madness floods Bangladesh. Her name is Yaba.
Up to two million pills, according to the Department of Drugs, would be consumed daily in Bangladesh. Yaba is a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine, in the West also known as Nazi Speed. German soldiers should have taken this drug mix to fight for days. In Asia, they call the small pills "the drug of madness" because consumers hardly sleep, eat little, and become aggressive. In Muslim Bangladesh, the drug is on the rise.
The motorcycle rider believes to have tourists on board. He travels daily through the streets of Cox's Bazar, the largest city on the longest beach in the world. When asked if he knew the drug Yaba, he asked what quality we needed. He could get the pills worth 50 cents or three euros. A room, where we could smoke the drug in peace, costs only one euro per half hour. No matter whom we ask, shopkeepers, pharmacists or passersby, everyone here knows how and where to get the little pink pills.
"The only business here in the province that is running is the deal with the Yaba pills," says Fahad Kamal. For three months he has been in Cox's Bazar in a detention clinic. He had already seen 12-year-olds who would smoke the stuff. Just like old people. Poor truck drivers who have to stay awake, or his rich classmates who want to lose weight:
"The stuff destroys our society, and when you get dependent, you can not get rid of it by yourself, I smoked it because I thought I'd get better with the girls, you're so powerful, but do it You are also angry, a person who is aggressive and feels powerful, that is super dangerous! "
In the south of Bangladesh, the police have been able to seize pills worth more than 14 million euros last year. Here there are the most drug addicts in the country. The southernmost province in Bangladesh is located on the border with Myanmar. There the pills are produced. Once the drugs have crossed the border, they are smuggled through the country. Over 30 million Yaba pills have seized the police last year in Bangladesh. This is a sign, says Mainuddin Khan, a local police officer in Cox's Bazar:
"The situation is as good as possible, we, the police, the dealers, the border checkers catch the smugglers, all our forces are pulling together."
Conversely, one could say no one knows how many pills remain undetected by the authorities. In the case of arrested drug traffickers, they find gold bars and bundles of bank notes. The business is worthwhile, the demand is rising. 70 percent of all addicts in the country are dependent on Yaba. The consumption of pills has risen enormously in the last five years: around 2500 percent. And apparently nobody wants to change the situation, says Didarul Rashedm, he is the director of the withdrawal clinic in Cox's Bazar:
"Even our deputies are involved in drug trafficking, and no one thinks about what this means for our country, if everyone is dependent on it."
In fact, the police discovered a 100.000 pills in the spring with a politician in the south of the country. He was at the top of the youth organization of his party.
