The Bangladesh Army on Friday detained seven suspected drug dealers and criminals and seized local and foreign firearms, ammunition and narcotics in two joint operations at Ashulia on the outskirts of Dhaka.
A joint-forces statement issued in the morning on the day said that the troops from the Jamgara Army Camp carried out overnight raids in Gazirchat and Kandail areas after reports of gunfire had panicked local residents.
During a raid on the residence of AR Montu, soldiers recovered a foreign-made pistol with eight rounds, two pistol magazines, 17 shotgun cartridges, 16 pistol bullets, four homemade weapons, about 3,500 Yaba pills, 700 grams of cannabis, four litres of local liquor and three walkie-talkies.
Those arrested in the raid were identified as Montu鈥檚 younger son Mehedi Hasan Mithun, 24, Mozammel Bhuiya, 44, Zahidul Alam, 24, and Masuma Akter Riya, 22.
Montu is already accused in several cases related to violence against women.
In a separate operation in Kandail, security forces detained three others namely, Nayon Ali, 28, of Rajshahi鈥檚 Jamira Hatpara, Babor Hossain Babul, 45, of Kandail, and Golam Rabbi, 18, of Bogura鈥檚 Phulbari, and seized another foreign pistol, a local firearm and 200 grams of cannabis.
The joint forces said that the Kandail group had been trying to assert dominance in the Raja-Badsha Market area using illegal weapons, prompting multiple operations by the law enforcers.
The Ashulia police said that all detainees had been charged under the arms and narcotics control acts and were sent to court later in the day.