The law enforcements’ drive to carry out arrests continues following the severe violence that erupted across the country with numerous reports of sabotage, attacks, vandalism, arson, firing and subsequent casualties centering the quota reform movement.
Around 1,100 more were arrested countrywide, including BNP and Jamaat activists, from Monday night to Tuesday afternoon. Some 517 of them were arrested from Dhaka.
With that, the number of people detained across the country surpassed 3,000 in the last six days from 17 to 23 July. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) and sources at 21 district police superintendent offices confirmed the figures.
Besides, more cases were registered in several districts over arson and sabotage on Tuesday too. DMP sources said 38 more cases were filed in the last 24 hours. In all, some 119 cases have been registered in the capital so far.
DMP said some 517 accused arrested from different places in Dhaka were produced before the court yesterday. Many of them are BNP-Jamaat activists. There are reports of the more than 1,200 being arrested in the capital over the last three days.
BNP, in a statement regarding the arrests of party leaders and activists, said party chairperson’s special assistant Shimul Biswas, central cooperative affairs secretary Nazmul Haque and Dhaka North city BNP joint convener Saiful Alam were arrested by the law enforcement yesterday.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami said that central naib-e-amir Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher and central executive committee members Mobarrak Hossain have been arrested. Apart from that joint secretary general of a faction of Gono Odhikar Parishad , Md Tarek Rahman, and Jatiya Dal chairman Ehsanul Huda were reportedly arrested by the law enforcement.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, officials at the Savar model police station and Ashulia police stations said they arrested 89 persons in six cases filed with the two police stations on the allegation of sabotage over the last few days.
Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP) commissioner Md Mahbub Alam said some 66 persons have been arrested in 28 cases filed with the eight police stations under the GMP. Of the arrestees, 66 were arrested in the last 24 hours.
In Narayanganj, police arrested 74 people, including Tarab municipal BNP general secretary Ahad, yesterday. District superintendent of police (SP) Golam Mostafa Rasel confirmed this to Prothom Alo.
In an incident in the Muradnagar area of Chattogram during the quota reform movement, some Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists sustained critical injuries while trying to escape from a five-storey building climbing down the exhaust pipe. The attackers hurled brickbats towards the BCL activists to stop them from climbing down. A BCL activist filed a case over that incident with the Panchlaish police station Tuesday afternoon. So far, a total of 15 cases have been lodged in the Chattogram city area.
Police sources said in all, some 16 cases have been filed in the Chattogram district. Some 106 more persons, mostly BNP activists, were arrested under these cases on Monday night. As of Tuesday, a total of 584 persons have been arrested in the district.
Arrest in other districts
In Chandpur, some seven cases have been lodged on the allegations of sabotage, vandalism, clashes and arson and some 32 have been arrested in these cases as of Tuesday. Officer-in-charge of relevant police stations and district police sources provided this information.
Cumilla police arrested 25 people in 24 hours with the total number of arrestees reaching 115 in the district. Meanwhile, seven more persons were arrested in Netrakona. Some 13 persons have been arrested in the district till yesterday.
Four more cases were registered in Rangpur city yesterday. As of yesterday, a total seven cases have been filed in Rangpur. Police arrested some 47 persons under these cases. In all, as many as 96 persons, including BNP-Jamaat activists, were arrested from Rangpur.
Confirming the figures, Rangpur Metropolitan Police (RMP) additional commissioner Maruf Hossain told Prothom Alo that some seven cases have been filed so far till Tuesday on the allegations of arson at the Tajhat police station and deputy police commissioners’ office in the city’s Central Road, sabotaging the police officials and vandalising government establishments. The police are conducting drives to arrest the persons involved in these offences analysing the CCTV reports.
Meanwhile, in Dinajpur, some five cases have been filed and some 13 have been arrested in these cases, including four BNP leaders, in separate drives conducted in different parts of the city. Meanwhile some 21 leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, including Natore district BNP secretary general Rahim Newaz, were arrested Tuesday. Besides, eight more BNP-Jamaat activists were arrested by the police in Panchagarh in 24 hours. With that, the number of arrestees in the district reached 21.
Chapainawabganj Gono Odhikar Parishad president Walid Hasan, district marriage registrar association president Abdul Bari and 20 others have been arrested. They were arrested in separate police drives in district Sadar upazila, Shibganj, Bholahat, Gomostapur and Nachol upazila.
Confirming the arrests, Sadar police station officer-in-charge (OC) Mehedi Hasan said Walid Hasan was arrested in a case filed under the Explosive Act.
The police arrested 11 BNP-Jamaat leaders and activists in Meherpur. So far, some 19 people have been arrested from the district.
Meherpur ASP Ahsan Khan said 11 persons were arrested from different places across three upazilas in the district based on intelligence information that they were plotting for sabotages. They are accused in other sabotage cases.
Apart from that, some 72 were arrested in Rajshahi, with the total number of arrestees in the district reaching 179 as of Monday in 16 cases filed so far. Most of them are BNP-Jamaat activists. Meanwhile, three more have been arrested in Lalmonirhat in 24 hours. Earlier, police arrested six people in the same case. The arrestees are all BNP activists.
Some 23 persons were arrested in the five new cases filed with three police stations in Barishal. In all, police arrested 56 persons over the last four days in Barishal, Barishal Metropolitan Police (BMP) media cell in-charge, inspector Monirul Islam confirmed.
At the same time, Barishal district police arrested 11 persons from various parts of the district. Confirming the matter, Barishal SP Md Wahidul Islam said BMP arrested some 23 persons in total.
Similarly, eight more were arrested in Faridpur, 10 in Rajbari, 30 in Satkhira including BNP-Jamaat activists, 55 in Mymensingh, 12 in Kishoreganj, 3 in Sunamganj, 11 in Sherpur and 12 in Feni in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, two new cases were filed on Monday night. Some 30 persons have been arrested so far in the district, including Chakaria Chhatra Dal president Habib Ullah. The remaining are also members of Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Shibir.
In Rangamati, three Jubo Dal leaders have been arrested in an old sabotage case. Apart from them, some 18 BNP-Jamaat activists were arrested in Khulna in 24 hours. The total number of arrestees in the district reached 67.