Villagers in Manikganj detained 14 members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), including one Major and one Lieutenant, in the early hours of Wednesday, suspecting them to be robbers. The incident took place at village Shaljana under Aaroja union at Shibalay upazila in the district.
Officer-in-Charge of Shibalay Police Station Md Rakibuzzaman talking to The New Nation said that the RAB personnel had been to Shaljana village at night in civil dress. Responding to a question, he said the RAB members could not give any specific reason behind their visit to the village without uniform at late night.
“The villagers detained them suspecting them to be dacoits. On information, we rushed to the spot and rescued the RAB members from the wrath of the villagers. Later, we handed over them to the RAB-4 after knowing their identities,” he said.
Some senior officials of the RAB-4 based in Savar led by company commander of RAB-4 Faizul Islam Mandal, went to Shibaloy and brought all the 14 members of RAB from the police at around 8-30 AM to the head quarter of the elite force.
The 14 RAB men rescued are: Major MH Selimuzzaman, Lieutenant Sarfaraj, Deputy Assistant Director of RAB-4 Enamul, Sergeant Abdul Halim, Sub-inspector Hanif, Assistant Sub-inspector Yusuf, Corporals Kabirul and Rafique, Lance Corporals Waz Uddin and Alamgir, constable Sahabur and soldiers Sharif, Azibul and Didar.
The villagers, who keep vigil in their area rotationally every night to check robbery, found a microbus parked on a village road at 2 AM.
Asked about their identities, five plainclothes men introduced themselves as members of elite force RAB, said some local people to the media.
When they said they would go to Faridpur via Manikganj, the villagers became suspicious of their motive. Nine others joined the group of RAB later and told the villagers that they were in an operation to arrest a wanted criminal.
As the statements were contradictory the villagers out of suspicion captured all the RAB men. Later, police rescued the RAB members from the villagers and brought them to the police station. The police handed over the 14 RAB members to the RAB-4 Savar Camp commander.
Refuting the allegation against RAB Faizul Islam Mandal said that the team went to the village by mistake. The allegation brought against them is totally false, he added.
