Police have arrested two people and recovered eight firearms in an operation at the Thakurtala intersection in Chhotomaheshkhali, Maheshkhali upazila, Cox’s Bazar.
Additional district police superintendent and media focal point Md Ohidur Rahman disclosed the information at a press briefing at the police station grounds Sunday, August 30, afternoon.
Those arrested are Md Rubel Mia, son of Motaher Hossain of the Horinkhain Dighir Par area in Patiya upazila’s Kusumpur, and Manik Dey, son of the late Monindra Dey of the Thakurtala area in Maheshkhali upazila’s Chhotomaheshkhali.
Officials said that acting on tip-off intelligence, a police team led by station officer-in-charge (OC) Md Abdus Sultan and OC (investigation) Pratul Kumar Sheel conducted checkpoint duty at the Chhotomaheshkhali Thakurtala intersection around 9:15 p.m. Saturday. Searching a CNG-run auto-rickshaw, they recovered and seized eight firearms from inside a travel bag. Two people connected to the arms shipment were arrested at the scene. The recovered and seized weapons were two homemade rifles, five homemade single-barrel shotguns, and one improvised firearm (LG).
The OC said that on August 21, a raid in a remote hilly area of the upazila’s Shaplapur Mithachhari had led to the arrest of one person along with firearms and equipment. Since then, on the district police superintendent’s orders, police activity to recover weapons has been stepped up at various points across Maheshkhali. In keeping with that effort, police conducted checkpoint duty at Thakurtala intersection Saturday night and arrested two people with eight firearms.
The OC further said police had been working at various points for a long time to recover these weapons and arrest those involved in trafficking them. He said the criminals, sensing police movement, had gone into hiding. A prolonged game of cat-and-mouse played out for some time. In the end, he said, the offenders were caught by police.