592 more held

At least 592 more people were arrested on Sunday in different districts in an ongoing crackdown against suspected troublemakers, according to police headquarters.

The drive began on Friday night as per the police headquarters' directive to maintain law and order across the country following the recent killings of two policemen and other subversive activities.

Of the arrestees, many of them are reportedly BNP and Jamaat leaders and activists.

Earlier, over 1,500 people were arrested in the drive till Saturday.

Taskforces comprising members of police, Armed Police Battalion, Rapid Action Battalion, Border Guard Bangladesh and Bangladesh Coast Guard started the drive to nab the suspected troublemakers, police sources said.

The drive would continue until further notice, said an official at the police HQ, wishing not to be named.

According to our correspondents from Savar, Moulvibazar, Jhenidah, Pirojpur, Mymensingh, Kushtia and Chittagong, 82 more people were captured yesterday.

Some 25 alleged BNP and Jamaat men were held, and 10 cocktails and 150 yaba tablets were recovered in separate drives from Savar, Ashulia and Dhamrai, on the outskirts of the capital.

Besides, police also raided the houses of top BNP and Jamaat leaders in the areas, but no one was detained, reports our Savar correspondent, quoting family sources and police.

In Habiganj, some 10 people, including six Jamaat-Shibir men, were arrested at different places in the district on charges of “plotting subversive activities”, adds our Moulvibazar correspondent.

Six crude bombs and a good number of books on jihad and anti-government leaflets were also seized from their possession, according to Habiganj police.

Jhenidah police in separate raids arrested 17 Jamaat-Shibir men from the district's five upazilas. According to police, they were planning to conduct subversive activities.

In Pirojpur, police held 23 BNP and Jamaat men from different areas in the district.

Detectives caught four youths and recovered two pistols, a magazine, eight bullets and a sharp weapon from their possession after raiding Akua area of Mymensingh town.

Police also nabbed joint convener of Kushtia district unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Zakaria Hossain, an accused in an arson case filed in 2014, and recovered firearms and bullets from his house in Kushtia Sadar upazila.

Police also nabbed two people along with a firearm and bullets after searching a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in Banshkhali upazila of Chittagong.