The same day in Jhenidah they seized relief materials from the house of Shahidul Islam Master, another ex-BNP lawmaker.

Elsewhere in the country, the army-led strike force rounded up 1,582 people on various charges as part of the ongoing anti-crime drive in the 24 hours preceding 6:00am yesterday. During the raids, they recovered 13 firearms and five crackers.

The joint forces seized five cars worth several crore taka, a 42-inch plasma TV and five computers from the Shyampur house of Salahuddin Ahmed yesterday evening. They found a Lincoln Navigator and a Toyota Corolla with the same registration number. Toyota HiLux, Pajero V6, and a Toyota HiAce van are the other three cars seized and later taken to the Shyampur Police Station.

The raid lasted for nearly three hours, starting from 5:00pm.

Our Jhenidah correspondent reports: The joint forces recovered a huge quantity of relief materials from underground within the boundaries of Shahidul Islam's house at Maheshpur upazila yesterday evening.

The goods seized include 275 saris, 30 lungis, 33 blankets, a good number of sports materials and 18 corrugated iron (CI) sheets of public relief stock.

Maheshpur Upazila Nirbahi Officer Moniruzzaman was present during the raid on the house of the ex-lawmaker from Jhenidah-3.

Our Nilphamari correspondent reports: The joint forces recovered 70 CI sheets of the government relief fund from Jamaat-run al Amin madrasa and Al Ihshan Islami Library in Kishoreganj upazila Wednesday.

Inscribed on each sheet were words: Government Relief Materials, Not for Sale.

The forces detained upazila Jamaat Nayeb-e Ameer Abu Sayeed, and local Jamaat leaders Montu Mia and Al Hasan in this connection.

Our Barisal Correspondent reports: The crack forces yesterday arrested BNP leader and Barishal City Corporation (BCC) ward commissioner Atiqur Rahman at his house on Nabagram Road in the city.

A BCC road inspector, Sadekur Rahman, yesterday morning filed a case alleging that Atiqur tried to strangle him to death as he was preparing to write to the chief adviser to inform him of 'rampant corruption' at the city corporation, said Kamalendu Ghosh, duty officer of the Kotwali Police Station.

The ward commissioner was picked up from his office within the next two hours. He was handed over to the police and later a court sent him to jail.

Our Rajshahi correspondent adds: A team troops and law enforcers yesterday held Lutfar Rahman, accounts officer of Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC), at his house in the city early yesterday on charge of graft.

He was later handed over to the Boalia Police Station.

Our staff correspondent from Khulna adds: Several teams of Khulna Metropolitan Police (KMP) have been combing the city since Wednesday night for operatives of the outlawed outfits.

All police stations and outposts have been put on alert on reports that Janajuddho founder Abdur Rashid Malitha alias Dada Tapan has had a meeting with his cadres at the Khalishpur industrial belt.

Deputy Commissioner (HQ) of KMP Mesbahuddin yesterday admitted to having launched the operations. He, however, said Dada Tapan's arrival here might be a rumour spread by PBCP cadres to gauge the preparedness of the law enforcers.

Earlier this month, the Janajuddho operatives circulated leaflets across Khulna, branding Nobel laureate Prof Mohammad Yunus 'a stooge of the United States'.

Our Manikganj correspondent reports: The joint forces recovered 6.5 bundles of CI sheets from houses of two BNP leaders in Shaturia.

They arrested Shaturia Union Parishad Chairman Abul Bashar, also a local BNP leader.

Our Sirajganj correspondent reports: The joint forces yesterday recovered 90 CI sheets of government relief fund in three separate drives and arrested Alim Master, a college teacher in Sirajganj district.