Dhaka, Nov 21 (IANS) Aside from the narcotics network, Pakistan is weaponising Bangladesh’s territory for direct anti-India operations, with Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) handlers, including former Pakistan Army commandos, training over 125 recruits — including more than 50 Rohingya youths and cadres from terror organisations Ansarullah Bangla Team and Hizb-ut-Tahrir — at remote camps in Bandarban, Brahmanbaria, and Sylhet districts in Bangladesh, a report said on Friday.

It added that the training covers improvised explosive device fabrication, guerrilla tactics, and border infiltration, with camps intentionally set up near unfenced stretches of India’s northeastern frontier, with recruits prepared for sabotage inside India.

“Bangladesh is emerging as a critical node in Pakistan’s hybrid warfare strategy, with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) leveraging ties to underworld figure Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company to establish narcotics trafficking networks and terrorist training camps on Bangladeshi soil. Regional intelligence assessments indicate that following the 2024 political upheaval in Dhaka and the installation of an interim administration under Muhammad Yunus, Islamabad has accelerated efforts to transform Bangladesh into a staging ground for destabilising India and funding global jihadist proxies,” a report in ‘South Asia Press’ detailed.

“The ISI-Dawood partnership, forged during Pakistan’s ‘narco-jihad’ era under General Zia-ul-Haq, has long fused drug proceeds with covert operations. Dawood’s Karachi-based syndicate, designated a terrorist entity by the United States, now routes Afghan heroin, methamphetamine, and synthetic drugs through Bangladesh’s ports after Indian crackdowns disrupted traditional channels. A notable October 2025 seizure at Chittagong Port uncovered 25 tons of narcotics-grade poppy seeds concealed in a Pakistani ‘bird feed’ shipment, employing sophisticated concealment methods linked to ISI tradecraft,” it added.

According to the report, policy shifts under Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus have facilitated this infiltration, noting that Pakistani cargo exemptions from mandatory inspections in September 2024 and relaxed security clearances for Pakistani nationals in December 2024 created open corridors for operatives and illicit goods.

Citing multiple media reports, it stated that the D-Company is setting up logistics hubs in Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar cities in Bangladesh, channelling funds through real estate and hawala networks while forging links with Myanmar-based drug syndicates.

The report emphasised that these activities align with Islamabad’s broader strategy of surrounding India through proxy warfare, inundating its northeast with narcotics and insurgents, and weakening Bangladesh’s secular framework to install a pliable Islamist-oriented regime.

“By offloading high-risk drug operations to Bangladesh, Pakistan also shields itself from Financial Action Task Force scrutiny while generating billions to finance terrorism. Regional security officials warn that without coordinated countermeasures, Bangladesh risks permanent entrenchment as South Asia’s narco-terror epicentre, with direct spillover threats to India’s internal stability and the Bay of Bengal’s maritime security,” the report noted.

–IANS

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