Staff Reporter :Two police officers were killed on the spot when they were run over by a narcotics laden truck at a checkpoint under Shibganj Upazila in Chapainawabganj district in the early hours of Thursday.Riding a motorcycle, the police officers were chasing the truck which was allegedly carrying phensidyl. But the truck driver violated the signal and crashed the motorcycle along with two policemen in Kasatpukuria area on Shibganj-Sonamasjid highway.The victims were identified as Sajidul Islam, son of Abdus Sattar, hailing from Dinajpur district and SI of Shibganj Police Station, and Ataul Islam, son of Shajahan, hailing from Joypurhat district and a trainee traffic sergeant of the police station. “Getting information from a reliable source, the officers signalled a truck to stop near Palli Bidyut crossing at around 5:30am. But it did not stop and tried to flee away with escalating speed,”Officer-in-Charge of Shibganj Police Station MM Mainul Islam said. “At one stage, the truck rammed the motorcycle on which the policemen were chasing it, killing the officers on the spot,” the OC said, adding, “The bodies of the two police officials were sent to the morgue for autopsy.” Police instantly formed a special team and started operation to track down the killer truck and its driver. After killing two police officers, the truck tried to flee away through a nearby village road, but ultimately it failed to get any escape route. Police later seized the blood-stained truck and arrested its driver Mohammad Siraj from there. Police also recovered 1,450 bottles of phensidyl worth about Tk 1.5 crore and five fake number plates from the truck. When contacted, Superintendent of Police of Chapainawabganj Basir Uddin Ahmed told The New Nation on Thursday night, “We had concrete information that the truck was carrying phensidyl, which was loaded from bordering area. And so, the two police officers tried to intercept the truck.””After preliminary interrogation, we have come to know that the truck at first loaded vegetables and then took phensidyl from a bordering spot. It was going to Dhaka. We suspect that the truck was used in such crimes several times earlier. For that reason, there were several fake number plates,” the SP said. Police brought the truck to the local police station and filed three cases, including a murder, against the driver with the station.
