Five activists of the Chhatra League, student front of the ruling Awami League, were detained with sharp weapons at MC College in Sylhet on Thursday afternoon.
Zedan Al Musa, an additional police commissioner of Sylhet police, confirmed the incident to the Dhaka Tribune.
The detainees are Muhibur Rahman Saju, third year student of the physics department, Suman Babu Sheel and Iftekharuzzaman, second year pass course students, and Rifat Ahmed Selim and Junayed Chowdhury, second year students of the sociology department.
Police recovered locally-made machetes and sticks from the detainees.