140 BNP-Jamaat men arrested in final hours before election
Around 140 leaders and activists of opposition BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami have been arrested in Khulna, Barishal, Sherpur, Nilphamari and Bhola districts in final hours before the 30-December election, according to UNB.
In Khulna, 60 BNP activists were arrested during different overnight drives on Thursday.
The arrestees include BNP's Khalishpur thana unit chief Fazle Halim Liton, Khanjahan Ali thana unit president Meer Kaysed Ali and Daulatpur thana unit organising secretary Sazzad Hossain Toton.
Apart from them, Khulna-3 BNP candidate Rakibul Islam Bakul's chief election agent Sheikh Mosharraf Hossain was arrested when he was going to the returning officer's office after a press conference.
Khulna Metropolitan Police's spokesperson additional deputy commissioner Sonali Sen said Mosharraf had a warrant in his name. Police also arrested BNP's youth wing Juba Dal's Khulna city unit general secretary Nazmul Hasan Sagor.
Meanwhile, police raided the residence of BNP's Barishal-1 candidate Zahir Uddin Swapan in the early hours of Friday and arrested 19 party activists.
Inspector of Gournadi model police station, Md Mahbubur Rahman, claimed they had been tipped off about the gathering of criminals at Zahir's house.
"Over 100 policemen encircled his residence around 10:30pm on Thursday. The stalemate continued for about three hours as he refused to open the door," Rahman said.
Police said the arrestees include former Juba Dal central committee member Md Rafiqul Islam and BNP's Gournadi municipal unit's former general secretary Md Hannan Sharif.
In Sherpur, police arrested 26 leaders and activists of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, including central BNP leader Mahbubur Rahman Harej and for Sherpur upazila parishad chairman Dabibur Rahman.
Officer-in-charge of Sreebardi police station Ruhul Amin said they arrested Hannan Miah, son of late Mofiz Uddin of the village, while distributing money among voters at Gargaria village in Sreebardi upazila on Friday evening.
In Bhola, Rapid Action Battalion members arrested a BNP man - Babul Biswas- for plotting to unleash violence in Bhola-3 constituency from where BNP leader Hafizuddin Ahmed is contesting the election.
In Nilphamari, police in a special drive arrested 34 BNP-Jamaat men from different places of the district.
Jamaat leader's wife, son held in Satkhira
The wife and son of Jamaat's Satkhira Sadar upazila West unit chief Shahadat Hossain were among four people arrested with fake currencies.
Sadar police station OC Mustafizur Rahman said they raided the area after being tipped off about Shahadat's attempts to bribe voters.
"He escaped during the raid. We found 39 counterfeit notes of Tk 1,000 denomination from his house," the OC claimed.
Shahadat's wife Hafiza Khatun, son Zaharul Islam and two other associates were arrested.