Staff Reporter and Chunarughat Correspondent :
The drive for recovery of abandoned arms and ammunitions at the Satchhari National Park at Chunarughat in Habiganj was still continuing. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) going ahead with the hunt for 19th consecutive day on Thursday for arms and ammunitions, but no fresh cache of arms and ammunition was found in the last 10 days after June 9.
RAB-9 Srimangal Camp In-charge Sana Shaminur Rahman told The New Nation that they would continue the drive for some more days till the search in the area is complete, as they suspect that more arms and ammunitions might be found in the jungles of the dense forest.
RAB Director General Md Mukhlesur Rahman said simultaneously that alongside with the drive, investigation is also going on to find out the clue behind stocking of the arms and ammunitions in the reserved forest. “We will inform you through arranging
a press conference when the drive will end,” he said. The RAB along with police started the drive on June 1, and recovered huge cache of illegal arms and ammunitions from the forest. However, the law enforcing agencies could not arrest anyone in this connection so far.
So far, at least 222 pieces of rockets, 248 rocket chargers, about 200 mortar shells, 276 anti-tank weapons, a rifle, four machine guns, six machine gun barrels and huge quantity of bullets were recovered from the forest. Two days after beginning of the drive, the RAB on June 3 found the arms and ammunition. They also recovered arms and ammunition on June 4 and June 9 from deep holes in a hillock of the reserved forest. Since then, they could not recover fresh arms and ammunition although the drive was continuing. The elite force also unearthed at least ten bunkers.
The recovered arms and ammunition were taken to the Central Ammunition Depot in Dhaka and Central Ordnance Factory in Gazipur for tests.
Meanwhile, police seized some evidences of the incident following filing of two cases in this connection. Assistant Superintendent of Police of Habiganj Mozammel Haque is investigating the cases. He said that the law enforcing agencies could not arrest anyone in this connection or find out the clue of the huge and ammunitions in the dense forest. He, however, said that they are trying to find out the clue.
A panicky situation is still prevailing in the forest and its adjacent areas. The visit of the tourists in the forest has reduced following the incident.
The reserved forest is about three kilometres from the Indian state of Tripura. It is suspected that Indian separatist groups used the bordering forest area, as a training camp in the past. The incident in the forest is the single biggest case of arms seizure since 2004 Chittagong arms case and the Bogra arms haul.
The drive for recovery of abandoned arms and ammunitions at the Satchhari National Park at Chunarughat in Habiganj was still continuing. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) going ahead with the hunt for 19th consecutive day on Thursday for arms and ammunitions, but no fresh cache of arms and ammunition was found in the last 10 days after June 9.
RAB-9 Srimangal Camp In-charge Sana Shaminur Rahman told The New Nation that they would continue the drive for some more days till the search in the area is complete, as they suspect that more arms and ammunitions might be found in the jungles of the dense forest.
RAB Director General Md Mukhlesur Rahman said simultaneously that alongside with the drive, investigation is also going on to find out the clue behind stocking of the arms and ammunitions in the reserved forest. “We will inform you through arranging
a press conference when the drive will end,” he said. The RAB along with police started the drive on June 1, and recovered huge cache of illegal arms and ammunitions from the forest. However, the law enforcing agencies could not arrest anyone in this connection so far.
So far, at least 222 pieces of rockets, 248 rocket chargers, about 200 mortar shells, 276 anti-tank weapons, a rifle, four machine guns, six machine gun barrels and huge quantity of bullets were recovered from the forest. Two days after beginning of the drive, the RAB on June 3 found the arms and ammunition. They also recovered arms and ammunition on June 4 and June 9 from deep holes in a hillock of the reserved forest. Since then, they could not recover fresh arms and ammunition although the drive was continuing. The elite force also unearthed at least ten bunkers.
The recovered arms and ammunition were taken to the Central Ammunition Depot in Dhaka and Central Ordnance Factory in Gazipur for tests.
Meanwhile, police seized some evidences of the incident following filing of two cases in this connection. Assistant Superintendent of Police of Habiganj Mozammel Haque is investigating the cases. He said that the law enforcing agencies could not arrest anyone in this connection or find out the clue of the huge and ammunitions in the dense forest. He, however, said that they are trying to find out the clue.
A panicky situation is still prevailing in the forest and its adjacent areas. The visit of the tourists in the forest has reduced following the incident.
The reserved forest is about three kilometres from the Indian state of Tripura. It is suspected that Indian separatist groups used the bordering forest area, as a training camp in the past. The incident in the forest is the single biggest case of arms seizure since 2004 Chittagong arms case and the Bogra arms haul.
