News Desk :
Eight tea garden workers and five members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were injured when a clash triggered between law enforcement and workers during a raid at a tea garden in Chattogram’s Fatikchhari upazila.
“Of the injured, RAB officer Flight Lieutenant Niaz Mohammad Chapal who suffered head injuries after being hit with lethal weapons, was initially taken to Chattogram Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and then sent to Dhaka CMH by RAB air ambulance,” said Lieutenant Colonel MA Yusuf, Commanding Officer of Rab-7.
“On a tipoff, RAB went to Baromasia Tea Garden in Bhujpur on Monday night to raid an illegal liquor factory in the tea garden. RAB detained the liquor factory owner, Somoy Biplob. When they were returning with Somoy, a gang of drug peddlers waylaid on the RAB with lethal weapons, injuring five of our personnel,” he said.
The other injured RAB staff, Abdus Salam, Mostafizur Rahman, Shaheen Alam, and Mominul Hossain, were given first aid at the Fatikchhari upazila health complex.
Baromasia Tea Garden workers say that during the clash, plainclothes RAB men fired gunshots to bring the situation under control, leaving eight workers injured. Angry workers then ransacked two RAB vehicles.
On information, a police team from Bhujpur police station rushed to the spot and took the injured to hospital.
Rejecting allegations of firing on tea workers,
Lt Colonel MA Yusuf said, “Workers, instigated by drug dealers, swooped down on law enforcement. We have video footage and the drive is on to nab the primary culprits responsible for the incident.”
Additional Superintendent of Police (Hathazari Circle), Shahdat Hossain, and Bhujpur police station officer in charge (OC), Helal Uddin, visited the clash site.
One person got shot as workers at a tea garden in Chattogram’s Fatikchhari upazila clashed with members of the Rapid Action Battalion on Monday night.
The clash resulted from RAB conducting an anti-drug drive at the Baromasia Tea Garden, and left 10-12 tea workers and five members of the paramilitary force injured.
Sources said a team of RAB in plain clothes arrested a tea garden worker, Chittaranjan, 45, while conducting the drive at the tea garden on Monday night, reports UNB.
Panicked by Chittaranjan’s arrest, some of his co-workers rang the ‘Pagla Ghanti’ (crazy bell), which works as an alarm to alert workers spread throughout the garden of any danger. It was soon spread that the garden was under attack by robbers.
Hearing the alarm, a large number of workers gathered to defend the garden, and having surrounded the law enforcers, went on the attack. At this point, RAB were apparently forced to open fire against their attackers in self defence.
A worker named Mantosh, 55, got shot with a bullet, alleged the tea workers. That led to them attacking and damaging two vehicles used by RAB during the drive, the workers themselves admitted to this correspondent.
It was only after Bhujpur police arrived at the scene that the clash died down. The police sent the injured to the local hospital.
According to Fatikchhari Upazila Hospital sources, four RAB officers – Abdus Salam, 42, Mostafizur Rahman, 32, Shaheen Alam, 30, and Mominul Hossain, 29, – were undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The fifth RAB officer who was injured, Flight Lieutenant Niaz Mohammad Chapal, 30, was rushed to Chattogram Medical College and Hospital.
RAB-7 Deputy Director Mehedi Hasan, ASP Shahadat Hossain of Hathazari Circle and Helal Uddin Farooqui, OC of Bhujpur police station, later visited the spot deep in the night, when the tension was still hanging in the air throughout the area. Calls to RAB-7 were not received, nor returned.
OC Helal Farooqi said the clash did occur, but they had not received any complaint in relation to the incident. “So, it is not possible to give any statement,” he added.
