10 rockets, firearms recovered in Habiganj

Rapid Action Battalion in a drive yesterday recovered 10 rockets and some firearms from a remote forest in Chunarughat upazila of Habiganj.

Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of Rab's legal and media wing, told reporters that one of their teams made the recovery in Satchhari forest near Tiprapara acting on a tip-off from the force's detective wing.

He claimed to have recovered 10 Chinese-made rockets from a bunker during the raid that started on Friday evening and ended yesterday afternoon.

“The 40mm high explosive rockets can strike and destroy tanks and cars from a 1,500-metre distance.”

Md Moniruzzaman, an additional superintendent of police of Rab-9, told this correspondent they suspect that the weapons were being stocked by any of the separatist groups in the border region.

A local, who has been living in the hills for the last 27 years, said fear gripped her family after the recovery of the weapons.

Walking through Tiprapara, this correspondent found several houses locked up. Some others were open but abandoned.

Mufti Mahmud Khan said Rab has previously seized mortar shells, rocket launchers, machine guns and other explosives from a park which borders the Indian state of Tripura.

In 2014, a huge amount of arms and ammunition were recovered from the same area during a five-day raid.

Three cases have been filed over the incident.