During the raid on Dhuppol village under Hathazari upazila in Chittagong, the law enforcers also recovered an AK-47 assault rifle, a loaded magazine and 54 bullets from the listed criminals.

The arrestees are Mohammad Shamim, 28, his younger brother Mohammad Shahin, 24, Mahbub Alam alias Chhota Mahbub and Rony Mukharjee.

Acting on a tip off, the 25-men team led by Additional Superintendent of Police (Chitta-gong North) Hasib Aziz took position near Kuwaish Burishchar Degree College at 11.30am. After a scout gave green signal, the team encircled the village and launched the raid at around 1pm. The arrestees were found in the house owned by a villager named Ratan Ghosh.

Police said Shamim rented the house from Ratan about 16 days ago for Tk 2,200 a month, giving his name as Mohammad Shahjahan.

According to police, there are 17 criminal cases against Shamim, including accusations of six murders, while his lieutenant Chhota Mahbub has at least 10 cases against him.

Talking to newsmen, Shamim said he entered the underworld in 1996 to avenge the murder of his uncle, Mohammad Rafique alias Rafique Company, a businessman, by Humayun, a notorious Shibir cadre. Humayun was killed in an encounter with police on November 29, 2001.

Shamim and Mahbub confessed to newsmen that their gang has about 20 to 25 sophisticated firearms, including AK-47 and AK-56 rifles, most of which are held by a sub-group called Tayeb Bahini after its leader Abu Tayeb, general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra Leaggue Chittagong North unit.

One of the arrestees, Rony, however claimed to be innocent. He said he was a schoolteacher and happened to live in a rented house beside that of Ratan.

About Rony, the superintendent of police said, "If we find his claim to be true, we will release him."

Police quizzed the four in the afternoon and then set out with them to recover caches of firearms at different points of Hathazari and Fatikchhari upazilas. The operations were going on when this report was filed in the evening.

Hasib Aziz said an arms case would be lodged against the arrestees, besides the existing ones.