Looted arms recovered

The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban recovered a large cache of firearms arms and ammunition including five firearms and 189 bullets that were looted from an Ansar camp in Teknaf last year after killing the camp commander.

The arms recovered during the operation include five local pistols and 26 more bullets.

The search and recovery operation was launched by Rab around midnight on Monday with three suspected "Rohingya terrorists", whom Rab had arrested earlier the same night, Rab Director General Benazir Ahmed told journalists at a press briefing in Tombru Puran Pahar area yesterday.

The Rab discovered the arms buried under ground in two separate spots of Tombru inside the dense Naikhongchhari forest, he said adding that the operation will continue for the next couple of days in search of the remainder of the six firearms and 481 bullets taken away by the robbers from the Ansar camp. 

The three suspected "Rohingya terrorists", arrested from Kutupalang area in Ukhiya upazila, were identified as Myanmarese citizens Khairul Amin, Master Abul Kalam Azad and, said Lt Col Ashequr Rahman, company commander of Cox's Bazar Rab camp.

The DGs of Rab and Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) Maj Gen Mizanur Rahman along with other senior officials of the two agencies visited the spot and were present at the briefing.  

Acting on a tip-off, a team of Rab-7 launched a drive in Kutupalang area on Monday and arrested the three for their alleged involvement in the killing of an Ansar member inside a Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf upazila.

On May 13 last year, Ansar commander Ali Hossain, 55, was shot dead and 11 firearms along with 670 bullets were looted during an attack on an Ansar camp inside a Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar.

Alamgir Hossain, an Ansar member in the camp, filed a case against 35 unidentified people with Teknaf Police Station.

5 HELD WITH ARMS IN NATORE

Rapid Action Battalion in a raid arrested five people with five firearms and ammunition in Mallikhatia area of Natore town yesterday, reports our Natore correspondent.

A team of Rab raided Mallikhati area around 2:15pm and made the arrests and recovered six firearms, 9 magazines, 16 bullets and seven mobile handsets from their possession.

They are Mohammad James, Rezaul Karim Prince, Shakil Hossain Sajib, Rabiul Sheikh and his wife Nazma Begum.