Youth who learnt techniques in US ran a 'kush' lab at Wari home; ringleader Tousif arrested
The Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) has arrested Tousif Hasan, 22, the alleged ringleader behind a high-tech laboratory set up inside a home in the capital's Wari to cultivate the synthetic drug 'kush'. Tousif, a US citizen, had been on the run for a long time. He was arrested on Sunday morning from his home on Rankin Street in Wari.
In a statement in the afternoon, the DNC said a team from its Dhaka divisional intelligence office conducted a raid between 8:30am and 9am and arrested Tousif. Ten yaba tablets, 100 grams of cannabis and equipment for consuming yaba and cannabis were recovered from him at the time.
DNC sources said Tousif's name surfaced while investigators were probing an attempt last January to smuggle yaba to the United States through an international courier service. A subsequent raid on the Wari home uncovered a laboratory specially built for cultivating kush. Kush seeds brought from California in the US, cultivated plants, freshly harvested kush and various cultivation equipment were seized then. Evidence of kush being grown in multiple pots was also found in a temperature-controlled room built with tin and foil paper on the rooftop.
Investigators said Tousif mastered the technique of cultivating kush while staying in California. After returning home, he set up the specialised lab at his own house and began cultivation. Even while abroad, he controlled the lab's temperature and monitored its activities through remote-control technology. A girlfriend of his assisted in the work, the investigation has found.
A new case has been filed against Tousif at Wari police station under the Narcotics Control Act over the latest recovery of yaba and cannabis. The process is also under way to show him arrested in the earlier case over the kush lab and to interrogate him on remand. The agency said inquiries continue into the sources of his drug collection and supply and into others involved.
