Officials from the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) detained a youth along with 90 kilograms of cannabis hidden inside a specially constructed secret chamber of a pickup van during a raid in Barishal city early Saturday.
The detainee was identified as Rahul Hawlader, 22, a resident of the Kalapatti area of Barishal city.
Two of his accomplices — Siraj Mia, 37, of Cumilla, and Palash Hawlader, 42, of the Rasulpur area in Barishal — fled the scene.
Acting on a tip-off, a DNC team intercepted a blue-and-yellow Tata pickup van near the Rasulpur Ice Factory.
Upon searching a secret chamber built under the driver's seat, beneath the finishing tank, officers recovered 30 polythene bundles, each containing 3 kg of cannabis, totaling 90 kg, DNC Divisional Deputy Director Mohammad Khorshid Alam said.
The DNC seized the pickup van along with a copy of the driver's licence application.
Primary interrogation and preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects belong to an active inter-district drug-smuggling syndicate.
The gang allegedly smuggled large consignments of cannabis from border areas in Cumilla to supply various districts across the Barishal division.
Drives are underway to arrest the fleeing suspects, while the process of filing a case under the Narcotics Control Act at the local police station is underway.