The two--Khan Ahmed Wasib Tapu, 25, former general secretary of Mohammadpur Thana JCD, and Rajib Hossain Faruk, 28, a member of the same unit-- were held by the crime-busting force in city's Pallabi area on Wednesday.

The same day the Rab men also arrested seven others of the same gang. In the operation, which continued for two days in city's Pallabi, Rayerbazar, and outside in Savar, Rab teams recovered firearms including an AK-47 rifle, foreign-made pistols, ammunition, bomb-making materials, two walkie-talkies, two fake passports, and 40 bottles of phensidyle.

The other arrestees are Saiful Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Zahid Hossain, Mohammad Rana, Masudur Rahman, Saidur Rahman Naim, and Mohammad Khorshed.

A Rab press release yesterday said Rab-4 had long been keeping a close watch on the arrestees, and recently planned a series of actions to nab the gang.

According to the plans, two teams of Rab-4 raided a house in Pallabi area at about 4:00am Wednesday, and arrested Tapu and his accomplices Zahid, Rajib, Saiful, and Shahadat.

Tapu was accused in at least four murder cases including the one for slaying Dhaka City Corporation Commissioner Raju while Rajib in at least three cases for murder and robbery, said Rab press release.

The arrestees during interrogation disclosed that more firearms and ammunition were still left with Masud, Rana, and Naim at Rayer Bazar.

After the interrogation, Rab men raided Rayer Bazar area and arrested Masud and Rana.

The two confessed to having the arms hidden at Naim's house at Godighar in Rayer Bazar and took the Rab men there. The Rab team arrested Naim and recovered the AK-47 (7.62mm sub machine gun) and its 88 bullets, one pistol, one revolver, one airgun, 11 bullets and two hand-bombs.

Then the crime-busting men to nab the rest of the gang -Abul and Sohel--bulldozed Tapu into making a phone call to Abul and asked him to come to the capital.

Abul, who was holed up in Savar, refused to come to the city on security grounds. But when Tapu quoting Emon told him that they needed some firearms and ammunition by the morning, he gave the address of Khorshed.

Following the information, Rab men arrested Khorshed and recovered eight bullets from his possession.

GUNFIGHT
Taking Tapu and Rajib with them, a Rab team went to Niribili at about 3:45am Thursday to catch Abul and Sohel. But as soon as they reached there, some criminals opened fire on them, prompting the Rab men to return fire, said the Rab press release.

During the gunfight, Tapu and Rajib, while trying to escape got shot and died.

The Rab men recovered an Italian Petra Berreta pistol, one German revolver, one one-shooter gun, nine bullets, two cartridges, five used bullets, two walkie-talkie sets, three torch-lights and 18 bottles of phensidyle from the scene.

After the bodies were handed over to police, they sent those to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) morgue for autopsy.

Separate cases were filed against Zahid, Saiful, and Shahadat with Pallabi Police Station and against Masud, Rana, Nayeem, and Khorshed with Rayerbazar PS.

Saiful, Shahadat, Zahid were handed over to Pallabi police, while Rana, Masud and Naim to Mohammadpur police.

Meanwhile, Tapu and Rajib's relatives yesterday blamed the local ruling BNP leaders for the killing.

"They [BNP leaders] made my brother a criminal by giving him arms, and making him kill people," said an elder brother of Tapu, adding, "And it was again the BNP men who had him killed by Rab."

JCD STATEMENT
JCD Senior Vice President Sultan Salahuddin Tuku and General Secretary Shafiul Bari Babu in a statement yesterday said Tapu and his accomplices have never been involved in Chhatra Dal politics.