Jungle Salimpur, a sprawling 3,100-acre expanse of government-owned hills in Sitakunda upazila near Chittagong city, has evolved into a fortified enclave of illegal settlements and criminal syndicates.
Home to around 150,000 residents from about 24,000 families, the area, originally khas land designated for 11 national development projects, operates as a "country within a country" with its own paramilitary-style governance.
On January 19, a RAB-7 team entered Jungle Salimpur to arrest armed criminals, including gang leader Yasin Mia, during a BNP office inauguration.
Miscreants, alerted via loudspeaker announcements, ambushed the force with guns, sticks, bricks, explosives, and stones; an estimated 400-500 attackers participated.
RAB Deputy Assistant Director Md Abdul Motaleb Hossain Bhuiyan was beaten to death, with three other RAB members and informant Mona critically injured and treated at Chittagong Combined Military Hospital (CMH).
A case was filed against 229 suspects, with two arrests made by Monday.
RAB Director General AKM Shahidur Rahman labeled the area a "terrorist den" and vowed to dismantle illegal occupations through legal action, acknowledging past coordination errors but committing to future operations.
Criminal factions fuel violence
According to insiders, the whole area is dominated by several rival groups, including Yasin Mia's "Alinagar Bahumukhi Samiti" and the Rokon-linked "Mahanagar Chinnamool Bastibasi Sangram Parishad,".
After the August 5, 2024 political shift, infighting escalated over land control and illicit trades, with recent beatings of RAB personnel.
According to local sources, land grabbing began in Salimpur in the 1990s-2000s under "Chhinomul Samabay Samiti," attracting landless families via cheap sales on fake documents.
A fortress of geography
Jungle Salimpur’s strategic location is its greatest defense.
Sandwiched between steep slopes, the area features narrow paths that allow "security" personnel to spot outsiders instantly.
"Due to the geographical location, the illegal settlers and their forces get news as soon as law enforcement enters," a former police official explained.
"They start attacking from above before we even reach the heart of the settlement."
Beyond the natural terrain, the syndicates have established a rigid, paramilitary-style control over daily life.
The most striking feature is a sophisticated internal ID system.
Residents are issued special identity cards, and outsiders are intercepted at iron gates by armed personnel often carrying pistols.
In this enclave, the laws of the land are secondary to the dictates of the local "samiti."
Local Journalists admitted that political patronage is a key reason the government has failed to reclaim Jungle Salimpur, where at least 20,000 residents represent a significant voting bloc.
Local groups, though not directly tied to any party, typically align with whoever holds power, complicating enforcement efforts.
The former Awami League government planned 11 key initiatives, including Chittagong Central Jail-2, a model mosque, sports village, eco park, safari park, IT park, and training centers for police, RAB, and Ansar, but progress was halted as the government failed to reclaim the land from the occupiers.
The ‘human shield’ strategy
Syndicates rely on thousands of landless residents as a "human shield," drawing ordinary people who fear losing their last refuge if drives intensify.
During operations, locals join terrorists to defend the area, as eviction would strip them of affordable housing on khas land.
Several governments have been unable to win back the land because of this pattern.
Chittagong Additional SP Russell Mia noted at a press conference that Jungle Salimpur hosts more rootless migrants from various regions than locals, making mass arrests inevitable in any raid.
Unlike cohesive villages open to politics, this population lacks full state control; he believes better planning and manpower could have averted the recent RAB casualties.
Chittagong DC Mohammad Zahidul Islam Mian said force could reclaim the area, but at the cost of many lives, as criminals exploit landless tenants renting cheaply as buffers, endangering innocents in operations.
RAB-7 Commander Lt Col Hafizur Rahman insists control is achievable with unified will: "If you want it, want it properly, everyone must stand together behind operations."
He highlighted the listed terrorists residing there, acknowledging geographic difficulties but stressing it's not impossible.
