An angry mob of locals came down hard on three policemen and their informant in Tangail’s Sakhipur upazila yesterday for reportedly attempting to plant yaba pills on an individual.
The incident took place in the upazila’s Gabilar Bazar area yesterday evening, according to locals and police.
The policemen were identified as Assistant Sub-Inspector Reazul Islam and Constables Gopal Saha and Rasel — all of them posted at the Bastail outpost in Mirzapur upazila. Their informant was also identified as Hasan.
According to locals, the four detained one Bazlu, son of Farhad Mia, at the bazar and tried to plant contraband yaba pills on him.
Finding their behaviour suspicious, locals claimed they caught the policemen and their informant in the act and gave them a good beating.
Later, they confined the four men in a room at Rajabari Adarsha Girls’ High School, while hundreds of agitated locals thronged the area.
After being informed, personnel from Sakhipur and Mirzapur police stations arrived at the scene, managed to bring the situation under control and rescue the four.
Reached for comment, Sakhipur police OC (Investigation) AHM Lutful Kabir claimed: “It was a misunderstanding. The policemen were there to carry out an anti-drugs drive.”
He, however, added that the district’s SP Sanjit Kumar Roy has said that necessary measures would be taken to address the incident.