Photo: Collected
Eleven powerful IED (improvised explosive device) bombs packed in milk tins and buried underground have been defused in Raipur, Lakshmipur. Of them, six were large and five small.
The bomb disposal team of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) carried out the work on Thursday (12 November) afternoon. The site was an empty cropland on the north side of Billal Bepari’s ferry ghat in Char Kachia village of South Char Bangshi union of the upazila.
According to police station sources, on the night of 3 November, panic was spread by exploding cocktails at Khaser Hat bazaar in North Char Bangshi union of the upazila. Then a youth named Saiful Islam stabbed three people, including BNP leader Obaidullah. Locals immediately caught him and handed him over to the police. The next day, police showed him arrested in a case and sent him to jail through a Lakshmipur court.
Sujon’s home is in Bhola Sadar upazila. He lived as a tenant at the very house from whose courtyard the bombs were recovered. On Monday (9 November), some bomb-making materials were recovered from the room where he stayed. Seven others are named in the case filed against Sujon. Char Bangshi union BNP general secretary Imam Hossain Gazi and his son Shamim Gazi, former member secretary of the upazila Krishak Dal, are also named in the case.
Police said that on Tuesday (10 November) afternoon, two milk tins filled with bombs were found in a hole dug in the courtyard of a rented-out house belonging to the late Abu Taher Sikder in Char Bangshi village of North Char Bangshi union. They had been kept under police guard since then. Later, on the court’s order, the DMP’s Bomb Disposal Unit was informed.
On Wednesday (11 November) night, a four-member team of the unit visited the spot. They confirmed that the tins contained several powerful IED bombs.
According to local sources, Sujon and several other youths had been renting the house for about two months. They had put up a dense fence of bamboo and betel nut leaves around the house, and had also made arrangements so that no one could go near it. They did not move about or interact much with neighbours. So no one in the area knew them well.
Raipur police station OC Nizam Uddin Bhuiyan said a youth named Sujon stabbed three people. After he was detained over that incident, he was shown arrested in a case. Bomb-making materials were recovered from his rented home, and two tin containers holding 11 bombs were recovered from the courtyard of the same house. The DMP bomb disposal team has defused them. The expert team confirmed that the bombs were powerful IEDs.
Sources
Original report: Bangladesh Pratidin
