A 12-year-old student at a school in Comilla city remains hospitalised at Dhaka Medical College Hospital with a bullet lodged in his body that surgeons have so far been unable to remove, after armed drug dealers opened fire on an anti-drug gathering in the city’s Katabil neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon.
Kotwali Model Police Station officer-in-charge Touhidul Anwar confirmed at around 3:30pm on Friday that a foreign-made pistol loaded with six rounds — used in Thursday’s attack — had been recovered from a disused location on the basis of information provided by a detained suspect named Shrabon, arrested in the Katabil area late Thursday night.
The victim’s father filed a case at Kotwali Model Police Station in the early hours of Friday, naming drug dealers Sabbir and Apu along with four others as accused, with six further unidentified persons listed. Police said Shrabon, whose name did not appear in the original FIR, was taken into custody after evidence linking him to the incident was found.
The father told reporters by phone on Friday afternoon that doctors at Comilla Medical College Hospital had been unable to remove the bullet and transferred his son to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he was taken to the operating theatre but the bullet was not extracted. “There is significant bleeding from the wound and we are donating blood. Several tests were done this afternoon. We do not know when the bullet will be taken out,” he said.
Tensions had been running high since Wednesday night between two rival drug-dealing factions operating in the Katabil area, known locally as the Apu group and the Sabbir group. Several cocktail bombs exploded and clashes broke out overnight. In response, local residents organised an anti-drug human chain on Thursday afternoon outside two schools in the area. An armed group suddenly attacked the rally, opening fire and causing panic among bystanders. At least five people were injured in the clashes. Among them was the 12-year-old, a sixth-grade pupil who was walking home from school during the afternoon break. His father works at an amusement ride at the city’s City Park.
At a drug-prevention event organised by the district administration on the International Anti-Drug Day, Comilla constituency MP Monnirul Haq Chowdhury said drug use and drug-related cases were increasing and demanded to know why prevention measures were failing. “If drug trafficking cannot be eliminated from Comilla, I will organise public campaigns with local people. If I cannot achieve that while in government, I will resign,” he told the district commissioner and superintendent of police.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report