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The Special Response Battalion (SRB) has arrested four people, including a Chinese national, in Uttara, Dhaka, over alleged medicine smuggling and tax evasion, seizing medicines worth Tk 7.5 crore.
The arrestees are Chinese national Li Fen, 34, and Bangladeshi nationals Bakul Nahar Bithi, 24, Yunus Ali, 26, and Sajib Howlader, 28.
According to an SRB press release, the four were arrested during a raid in Uttara on Wednesday night. Authorities also seized Tk 606,140 in cash.
The agency alleged that the group bought medicines, including drugs used to treat cancer and other complex diseases, at comparatively low prices in Bangladesh and sent them by courier to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries.
The medicines were reportedly packed in cartons weighing 24–25kg for overseas shipment. The SRB also alleged that the group had links with employees of several pharmaceutical companies.
According to the release, Li first arrived in Bangladesh on a 30-day tourist visa in August 2024.
He returned to China shortly before his visa expired but came back to Bangladesh a few days later on another tourist visa.
Bithi studied at a university in China from 2019 to 2023 and learned Chinese. After returning to Bangladesh, she reportedly worked as an interpreter for the Chinese national.
The arrests followed the seizure of a 100kg consignment of medicines by customs officials at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Tuesday. The SRB said it launched an investigation based on that discovery and subsequently arrested the four suspects.
The agency said legal proceedings would be initiated against the arrestees and efforts would continue to identify and apprehend others involved in the alleged smuggling network.
