The Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has arrested five members of a Jessore-based small arms suppliers’ gang in the capital and seized eight foreign made pistols and bullets from them.
Acting on a tip-off, three units of Gulshan DB police held them from the Gabtoli area on Wednesday night, Additional Commissioner AKM Hafiz Akhtar stated at a press conference on Thursday.
The arrestees are Akul Hossain, Ilias Hossain, Abdul Azim, Farique Hossain and Fazlur Rahman. They hail from Benapole and Sharsha in Jessore.
Of them, Akul Hossain is the general secretary of Chhatra League Sharsha upazila unit. He has also been accused in a number of arms smuggling cases filed previously.
The additional commissioner said that the law enforcers had information that the gang used to smuggle arms from India and sell them to different clients all over the country.
The seized arms and ammunition Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune
The police learned from their sources that the smuggles would enter Dhaka through Gabtoli with a haul on Wednesday night.
At around 3:15am, a private car headed north through the u-loop of Gabtoli Bridge. At the time, the team stationed in the Diabari area was asked to set up a barricade on the road, while the other team went into a chase of the two private cars, the police official said.
Policemen cordoned off the suspected car with the help of locals. When the driver and a passenger tried to flee, police nabbed them, conducted a body search on them and found the arms and bullets.
Hafiz said that Akul was the leader of the gang and he had sold more than two hundred weapons since 2014.
The police official said further investigations were going on.
