1,200kg explosive materials seized

Detectives have seized 1,200 kgs of explosive materials during separate raids in Dhaka and Chittagong and arrested four people in this connection.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam yesterday at a press conference at the DMP media centre told reporters that law enforcers were investigating to get to the source of the materials.

Although the seized materials -- sulphur, hexachloride and lithium -- are used in different industrial works, those cannot be bought or sold without government permission, he added.

The materials are also used for making firecrackers and crude bombs, Monirul said.

The arrestees are Awal, Alam, Sharif and Saidul.

Detectives arrested Awal while he was selling two kgs of explosive materials in the capital on Sunday night.

Based on his information, they arrested his associates Alam and Sharif at Lalbagh and Chakbazar area the same night.

After questioning them, detectives conducted a raid in the port city's Sadarghat area and arrested Saidul with nearly 1,200 kgs of the explosive materials.

“Two kgs of the substance were seized at Lalbagh in the capital while the rest in Chittagong. We suspect that professional criminals were going to buy those,” Monirul said.

Detectives last month arrested a Dhaka University laboratory assistant and three chemical traders in connection with supplying bomb-making chemicals to militants.