In its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy report-2005 released in Washington, the State Department said seizures of heroin, phensidyl and pethidine point to growing narcotics abuse in Bangladesh.

There were unsubstantiated allegations of opium and cannabis production in the Bandarbhan district along the Burmese (Myanmar) border and cannabis production in the southern char (silt-island) regions, it added.

However Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) of Bangladesh has strongly denied the allegations of opium production in Bandarban.

Porous borders made Bangladesh an 'attractive transfer point' for drugs transiting in the region, the report said, adding that Bangladesh government officials charged with controlling and preventing illegal substance trafficking lack training, equipment, continuity of leadership, coordination and other resources to detect and interdict the flow of drugs.

"Corruption is a major problem at all levels of society and government in Bangladesh. Authorities involved in jobs that have an effect on the drug trade facilitate the smuggling of narcotics," the report said.

If caught, prosecuted and convicted, officials receive a reprimand at best and termination from government service at worse, it said, adding adjudicating authorities did not take these cases seriously.

About the Anti-Corruption Commission formed in November 2004 with a mandate to investigate corruption and file cases against government officials, it said serious questions remain about the commission's ability and commitment to operate effectively and independently.

The report however said the Bangladesh government does not, as a matter of government policy, encourage or facilitate illicit production or distribution of drugs.

DNC's counter-narcotics initiatives and program activities are seriously hampered by the ineffectiveness of the National Narcotics Control Board (NNCB), the highest governmental body, to fulfill the objectives of the Narcotics Control Act (NCA).

The 19-member NNCB, made of up of 12 ministers, six elected members, and the DNC director general, is charged to meet quarterly, but no meetings have been held since a single meeting was conducted in 2003. There is no master plan for combating drug trafficking and abuse in Bangladesh, the report said.

"Regular police and the BDR are viewed as so corrupt and inept at combating everyday crime that a new 'Rapid Action Battalion' (Rab) force was recently set up by the central government."

Customs, the navy, the coast guard and the DNC suffer from under-funding, under-equipping, understaffing and lack of training, it added.

There is no DNC presence at the country's second largest airport, in Chittagong, which has direct flights to Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand. To date, no random searches of crews, ships, boats, vehicles, or containers are being performed at the country's largest seaport in Chittagong.

Bangladesh is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. It has a memorandum of understanding on narcotics cooperation with Iran, an extradition treaty with Thailand, and it participates in information sharing with the government of Myanmar, it said.

The governments of Bangladesh and the United States signed a Letter of Agreement (LOA) in September 2002 for providing equipment and forensic technical assistance to the DNC and its central chemical laboratory.

The report said the US government continues to support Bangladesh's counter-narcotics efforts through various commodities and training assistance programs.

According to the DNC, the report said drugs seized by Bangladesh authorities from January through November 2004 are as follows: 12.3 kilograms of heroin (about 15 percent increase over the amount seized during all of 2003); 1,720.2 kilograms of marijuana (about 10 percent decrease over the amount seized during all of 2003); 853 ampules of T D Jasick injection (about 77 percent decrease over the amount seized during all of 2003); 248.8 liters of phensidyl (about 34 percent decrease over the amount seized during all of 2003); and 2,094 ampules of pethidine injection (about a 57 percent increase over the amount seized during all of 2003).

It said there was no consensus estimate of the number of addicts in Bangladesh.