Secret hideout busted during search operation, uniform, training equipment recovered

Members of the police and joint forces busted a terrorists’ hideout during the search operation for the five abducted students in Purnachandra Karbari Para of Bhaibonchhara union in Sadar upazila of Khagrachari early Monday. 

Joint force members noticed a locked house when they raided Purnachandra Karbari Para at 5:00 am. They then broke into the house and searched it with the help of the locals.

Three pair of dresses, 19 uniform, pistol bullets, a walkie-talkie, two mobile phones, a microphone, a camera, a printer, a swing machine, a tent, a net, iron chain, kitchen appliances, food raw materials and extortion receipts were also recovered from the hideout, which is believed to be belonged to United People's Democratic Front (UPDF).

It, however, could not be learned whether the abducted students were kept at the house.

Army’s Khagrachhari region commander Brigadier General Sharif Md Aman Hasan visited the spot. The Army said they would continue the search operation to rescue the abducted persons.

Regarding the operation, Khagrachhari superintendent of police Md Arifin Jewel told Prothom Alo that the joint forces raided several areas in Bhaibonchhara union and discovered a UPDF hideout in Purnachandra Karbari Para, as well as recovered training equipment including laptop, mobile and walkie-talkie.

He further said neither anyone was arrested, nor was any abducted student rescued. Search operations would continue to rescue the abducted students.

Check posts have been set up on various roads to beef up security, he added.

Five Chittagong University students and a battery-run auto-rickshaw driver, were abducted in Khagrachhari on Wednesday, remain missing as a joint force led by the Bangladesh Army continues rescue operations.

Gunmen abducted five students from Chittagong University (CU) and a local auto-rickshaw driver on the morning of 16 April in the Giriful area of Khagrachhari when they were returning from the Chittagong Hill Tracts after attending the traditional Biju Festival.

The abducted students were Rishon Chakma, a first-year student in the Department of International Relations, and member of Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP) Chittagong University unit; Maitrimoy Chakma, a first-year student at the Institute of Fine Arts; Aldrin Tripura, a first-year student at the Institute of Fine Arts; Dibbyo Chakma, a first-year student in the Department of Drama; and Langgi Mro, a first-year student in the Department of Zoology.

The auto-rickshaw driver was released later, but the students have since remained missing.

The students had gone to Baghaichhari in Rangamati to celebrate the Biju festival with friends. As they failed to get bus tickets back to Chattogram, they stayed overnight at a relative’s house in the Kukichhara area, near Khagrachhari town.

On the morning of 16 April, they travelled by an auto-rickshaw towards Khagrachhari Sadar. Armed men allegedly intercepted the vehicle in the Giriful area and abducted all five students along with the driver.

Nipun Tripura, president of the PCP, a student wing of the Parbatya Chattogram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS-Santu Larma) have been blaming UPDF for the adduction since the beginning.

However, Angya Marma, Khagrachhari district organiser of the UPDF, denied the allegation.

“Our organisation has no involvement in this incident. This kind of vindictive politics is not our way. We have been advocating against fratricidal conflicts since the beginning,” he said.