At least 58 people were arrested during a large-scale police operation in the riverine char areas of Rajshahi, Natore and Pabna districts between Saturday evening and Sunday night, the police said on Sunday.
The special drive, codenamed Operation First Light, was conducted by about 1,200 members of different law enforcement agencies, including the police, Rapid Action Battalion, Armed Police Battalion, Naval Police, and Reserve Range Police, said Rajshahi Range deputy inspector general of police Mohammad Shahjahan at a press briefing on Sunday.
He said that the operation was launched following a rise in criminal activities such as extortion, drug trafficking, timber and sand theft, land grabbing and armed violence in the Padma charlands.
鈥榃e wanted to break the reign of terror created by gangs operating in the chars and this is only the beginning of a sustained campaign,鈥� DIG Shahjahan said.
According to the police, at least a dozen armed groups are active in the char areas, locally known as the Kakon, Mandal, Tuku, Sayeed, Lalchand, Rakhi, Sharif Kaigee, Razzak, Chollish, Bahanno, Sudcha and Nahar bahini.
Shahjahan said that police had arrested 14 people in Rajshahi, 20 in Natore and 24 in Pabna during the coordinated raids, while a parallel drive in Kushtia led to nine more arrests.
He added that law enforcers had also seized 10 firearms, four rounds of ammunition, several sharp weapons, 20 bottles of Phensedyl, 50 Yaba tablets, five motorcycles, and an engine-driven boat allegedly used in criminal activities.
鈥楧ue to the limited presence of law enforcement agencies, the charlands have become safe havens for criminals, we used satellite imagery and maps to identify hotspots and carry out targeted raids,鈥� the police official said.
He added that further operations would be conducted in other bordering char areas to dismantle criminal networks and recover more illegal arms and drugs.
