Criminals demolish RAB camp wall with Bulldozers, cut off roads

Miscreants dug up roads at several points to obstruct operations by law enforcement agencies in Jungle Salimpur in Chattogram’s Sitakunda late Sunday night.

Shots were suddenly fired at a RAB camp (outpost) in the middle of the night. Afterwards, the camp wall and various structures were demolished with bulldozers. To prevent law enforcement personnel from conducting operations, roads were cut off at at least three locations.

The incidents occurred around 2:00 am on Sunday night in the Alinagar area of Jungle Salimpur in Sitakunda. RAB said that despite the obstacles, including roads being cut off, members of law enforcement agencies reached the scene at night and carried out an operation. Several criminals were detained during the operation. According to RAB, members of the ‘Yasin Bahini,’ a local criminal gang, were involved in the attack.

Lieutenant Colonel Hafizur Rahman, commander of RAB-7 Chattogram, told journalists that members of the Yasin Bahini had carried out a planned attack on the RAB camp. As the criminals opened fire targeting the camp, RAB members returned fire in self-defense.

He said the miscreants cut roads at different points so that additional law enforcement forces could not reach the scene. Despite this, law enforcement agencies reached the area and resisted the criminals. At one stage, some criminals fled the scene, while several others were detained.

A RAB official named Kamal Hossain uploaded several videos of the operation to his Facebook account. Two videos uploaded early Monday morning show roads in Jungle Salimpur being cut off. In the videos, Kamal Hossain is heard saying, “To prevent law enforcement agencies from entering, the criminals cut culverts and roads at different points here, so that our vehicles could not get inside. They thought their tactics would defeat us. But they failed to realise that we are even more strategic than they are.”

Because the roads had been dug up, members of law enforcement agencies had to leave their vehicles far away and proceed on foot to the Alinagar area of Jungle Salimpur.

RAB officials said the damaged roads delayed their arrival at the scene. They had to leave their vehicles where the roads had been cut and continue onward from there.

If one travels along the Bayezid–Faujdarhat connecting road in Chattogram city, a road opposite the Asian University for Women enters into the hills. That road marks the beginning of Jungle Salimpur. The area is mainly divided into two parts-- Chinnomul and Alinagar.

According to district administration data, there are 3,100 acres of khas land there. Various land grabber and criminal groups have controlled the area for a long time.
On 9 March, law enforcement agencies took control of Jungle Salimpur.

Around 3,200 members of the Army, RAB, Police, and BGB participated in the joint operation that enabled authorities to take control of the area. Previous attempts by law enforcement agencies to take control had failed, and police and officials were instead attacked during operations.

Following the joint operation, the government announced plans to establish two training centers for Police and RAB in the area. As part of that initiative, RAB began constructing a camp in Alinagar. Allegations have now been made that criminals demolished that camp last night.

Although 22 people were arrested during the joint operation conducted on 9 March, several suspected criminals—including Yasin Bahini chief Mohammad Yasin, Rokon Bahini chief Rokon Uddin, Mashiur Rahman, Nurul Haque Bhandari, Gazi Sadek, and Golam Gafur—remain fugitives.

Local residents said that before the operation, the Chinnomul area of Jungle Salimpur was controlled by Rokon, while the Alinagar area was under Yasin’s control.