US embassy cable - 05DHAKA2566

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 002566 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEW DELHI FOR DEA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2010 
TAGS: ECON, KCRM, SNAR, BG, Narcotics 
SUBJECT: POPPY FIELD CONFIRMED IN WESTERN BANGLADESH 
 
Classified By: P/E Counselor D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.4(d) 
 
1. (C) On May 30, Director General of the BDG's Department of 
Narcotics Control (DNC) Mohammed Kamaluddin Ahmed confirmed 
to enconoff reports of opium cultivation in Bangladesh.  On 
the margins of a meeting between Ahmed and ICITAP TDYer, 
econoff raised reports from a local NGO that DNC 
investigators had recovered poppies from a remote area 
earlier this year and presented them as evidence to the DG in 
his office. 
 
2. (C) Ahmed confirmed that investigators found poppy plants, 
in western Bangladesh.  Subsequent investigation of the area 
by border security forces, he said, found a "small" poppy 
field of a few acres, which farmers said was for producing 
poppy seeds for use as a cooking spice.  The security forces 
reportedly destroyed the crop.  Ahmed stated that he has 
ordered patrols to be more vigilant, and that they have not 
found any more fields.  The DG affirmed there is no evidence 
of poppy cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region. 
 
3. (C) Comment: The NGO that provided the reports to econoff 
is APON, which operates a 12-step recovery program for drug 
addicts.  APON Director Brother Ron Drahozal has long 
maintained that poppies are cultivated in the Chittagong Hill 
Tracts, but DNC officials in Dhaka had previously downplayed 
such reports as unconfirmed. 
 
CHAMMAS