Ambush of prison van
THE ambush of a prison van and snatching away of three JMB prisoners, two of whom are under sentence of death, is perhaps the first of its kind in Bangladesh. We condole the death of the policeman killed in the miscreant action. However, given the circumstances of the attack and the security measures employed to transport high risk prisoners over a considerable distance, the apparent ease with which the operation was carried out is not surprising. Obviously, the extremist group is not only alive it can be active too when it wants.
It was obviously a well planned action which must have taken the policemen accompanying of the JMB convicts as guards, by surprise. And it is the security measures employed by the police that evokes several questions.
One wonders whether three policemen accompanying three prisoners are adequate and whether they were themselves well protected with bullet-proof jackets. And one wonders too if there was any other police vehicle accompanying the prison van. Only one vehicle carrying both prisoners and security detail is a rank bad idea. And should high-risk prisoners be transported in vehicles that do not have bullet protection?
We are sure all these questions will be addressed by the concerned authorities and corrective measures taken for the future, but should these have not been looked at before? That might have saved the life of the policeman. It is a pity that in matters of security we wake up only after an incident occurs, but by then the damage is done.
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