Two more buses were set on fire at separate locations in Savar and neighbouring Dhamrai upazila, near Dhaka, late Monday night and early Tuesday, taking the total number of buses torched in the two areas to eight.
No casualties were reported as all the buses were parked and unoccupied when the incidents occurred.
Police said eight people had been arrested in connection with the incidents, with two cases filed in Savar and two in Dhamrai.
According to Savar Fire Service and Civil Defence officials, a Savar Paribahan bus caught fire near Moylar Mor in the Ulail area around 2am on Tuesday. Two firefighting units rushed to the scene after receiving information and brought the fire under control.
Md Jahangir Alam, senior station officer at Savar Fire Service and Civil Defence, said 15 to 20 buses were parked at the site, one of which caught fire.
He said the preliminary assessment suggested that the incident was an act of sabotage.
Earlier, an SB Link Paribahan bus parked on the Aricha-bound lane of the Dhaka-Aricha Highway in the Genda area of Savar was set on fire around 1am on Monday. Another bus, belonging to Itihas Paribahan, was torched around 4am the same day in Baliarpur, also on the Aricha-bound lane.
A Savar Paribahan bus parked near Savar Thana Stand on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway was also set ablaze around 3am on Saturday.
Md Mosharraf Hossain, inspector (investigation) of Savar Model Police Station, confirmed that two cases had been filed over the incidents in Savar. Three people were arrested at different times on Monday night.
Meanwhile, four buses were set on fire at different locations in Dhamrai over the past few days.
According to Dhamrai Fire Service and Civil Defence officials, a Hamza Brothers Transport bus caught fire in front of the Dhamrai Upazila Land Office around 1am on Tuesday.
The bus was used to transport garment workers from Dhamrai to the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) in Savar. Two firefighting units rushed to the scene and extinguished the fire by 3:35am.
Md Lalon, owner of the bus, said he drove it himself and had parked it around 11:30pm before going home for a meal.
"Someone set it on fire while I was away. I don't know who did it or how," he said.
Earlier, a D-Link Transport bus caught fire in front of Afaz Uddin College in the Sharifbag area around 3:40am on Sunday. Two firefighting units responded to the incident and brought the fire under control by 4:20am.
On Friday night, a bus named Polli Seba, used to transport garment workers, was set on fire while parked in the service lane of the Dhaka-Aricha Highway in the Srirampur area. Firefighters extinguished the blaze by 3:20am after receiving information at 2:15am.
Earlier, on Thursday night, a bus belonging to Pavel Transport, which was undergoing repairs, was set on fire in the Dhamrai Thana Road area. Two firefighting units extinguished the blaze by 3:10am.
Al-Amin Khan, station officer at Dhamrai Fire Service and Civil Defence, said firefighters responded to the latest incident after receiving a call through the national emergency service 999 and brought the fire under control using two units. He said the incidents appeared to be acts of sabotage.
Md Nazmul Huda Khan, officer-in-charge of Dhamrai Police Station, said two cases had been filed over the bus fires in the upazila. Five people had been arrested in connection with the incidents.
