Is Alcohol legal in Bangladesh?

Also known as: booze

Legal status

Alcohol is the one narcotic the Act does not prohibit outright: section 9(1) opens «অ্যালকোহল ব্যতীত», save for alcohol, and section 10 governs it separately by licence, permit and pass. Alcohol is Class 'kha' serial 3 of the First Schedule: ethyl alcohol (ethanol), absolute alcohol, rectified spirit, any liquid prepared with more than 0.5 percent alcohol that is capable of producing intoxication and can be or could be drunk as an intoxicant, wine, beer, wash, চোলাইমদ, any kind of মদ, and any substance containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol capable of producing intoxication. Section 2(5) defines alcohol by reference to this same entry.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Alcohol sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Alcohol is prosecuted under section 10 rather than section 9, and section 36 gives it five rows. Row 23, section 10(1)(a) or (b): 1 to 10 years. Row 24, section 10(1)(c), (d) or (e): up to 10 kilogrammes or litres is 6 months to 3 years, above 10 and up to 100 is 3 to 5 years, above 100 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 10 years. Row 25, section 10(1)(f): 6 months to 2 years. Rows 26 and 27, section 10(1)(g) and (h): 1 to 10 years each. Section 36(5) adds up to 1 year for drunken nuisance or drunk driving. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and alcohol is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.

If prescribed or medical

Alcohol runs on permits rather than prescriptions, with one medical exception written into the Act. Section 11(1) provides that no permit to drink alcohol may be given to a Muslim without a written prescription from a doctor holding a degree or from an associate professor or above of a government medical college. Section 11(2) disapplies that for tari and pachui drunk by the communities it names and for traditionally made liquor among the small ethnic communities of Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari. Section 11(3)(a) allows foreigners, and nationals holding a permit, to drink seated in a licensed bar, and section 11(3)(b) disapplies the restrictions entirely for holders of a diplomatic passport and for persons covered by a customs pass book or the baggage rules.

Documentation

Alcohol is the one narcotic with its own documentation regime. A permit under section 13 is what makes drinking lawful, it is issued by the Director General or an officer empowered by him on conditions and fees fixed by rules, and section 13(2) runs it to the end of the financial year, with a licence or permit unrenewed for three consecutive years no longer renewable. Section 11(3)(b) exempts holders of a diplomatic passport and persons covered by a customs pass book or the baggage rules from the import, export, purchase, carriage, storage and drinking restrictions. Section 11(4) requires every duty free alcohol operation to run on a licence under this Act. Section 14 disqualifies an applicant with certain convictions. No traveller litre allowance is stated in the Act itself and none is stated here.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Bangladesh’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.