DNC hunts drug trade's black money: suspicious transactions of over 100 crore taka in four cases

The Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) has stepped up its investigation into the financial network behind the illegal drug trade, seeking to trace where drug money goes, who benefits from it and how illicit wealth is built.

According to officials at the Home Ministry and the DNC, charge sheets in four cases have recorded suspicious financial transactions and assets worth a total of 1,003,891,400 taka. The cases were filed in Dhaka, Chattogram and Rangpur between 2018 and 2023 and have already moved past the investigation stage into trial.

The DNC's anti-money laundering work is not limited to those four cases. Government records show the agency currently has 36 cases and preliminary inquiries under way. Of nine formally filed cases, charge sheets have been submitted in four, while five remain under investigation. In addition, 27 preliminary inquiries are running to identify suspicious money laundering and illicit assets.

The four charge-sheeted cases are Halishahar police station case No. 12, filed on 11 June 2018; Pahartali police station case No. 03, filed on 1 May 2019; Wari police station case No. 07, filed on 1 February 2022; and Tajhat police station case No. 04, filed on 1 March 2023.

Among the five cases under investigation is Gulshan police station case No. 14, filed on 1 March 2025. The other four were filed in 2026: Godagari police station case No. 25 on 26 January, case No. 06 at the same station on 8 February, Dhamoirhat police station case No. 24 on 15 March, and Chapainawabganj Sadar Model police station case No. 39 on 16 June.

The proceedings are being conducted under the Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2012, which was amended in 2015.

As technology plays a growing role in the drug trade and in the way money moves, investigating financial crime is becoming ever more complex. In response, the DNC is planning institutional reforms to modernise investigation methods, build technical capacity and improve coordination with judicial proceedings.

The proposed modernisation plan includes setting up a specialised cyber security and money laundering unit, establishing a digital forensic laboratory, and opening a separate prosecution office on the premises of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court.

Mohammad Golam Azam, additional director general of the DNC, told the national news agency BSS that the initiatives have been proposed to strengthen investigations into technology-enabled drug trafficking, illegal financial networks and other drug-related offences.

The plan also includes appointing specialised public prosecutors. If the necessary legal and administrative approvals are obtained, the department's prosecutors could be given the full powers of public prosecutors under the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The agency expects such an office to improve coordination between investigating officers and prosecutors, and to speed up the presentation of financial and digital evidence in court, case preparation and the conduct of trials.

The DNC has taken up the expansion of its anti-money laundering work despite limits on manpower and logistics. But officials say identifying suspicious transactions is only part of the task: tracing their source, their route and the real beneficiaries is equally important. To weaken the economic base of the drug trade, the source of illicit income and assets must be identified, transaction data analysed and admissible evidence presented in court. Judicial success will be the real test of the initiative.