Savar Jubo League chief, 2 AL leaders arrested with arms

The president of Savar Jubo League and two leaders of local Awami League were arrested with firearms yesterday, over an armed clash in Kaliakor of Savar on Tuesday night.

The arrestees are Selim Mondal, president of Savar Jubo League and also a member of Dhaka district council; Abdus Samad Mollah, general secretary of AL's Birulia union unit; and Mohammad Idris, general secretary of AL's ward-1 unit in Birulia union. 

Selim and Samad had a longstanding political rivalry over establishing supremacy in the area, said locals and police. 

At around 9:00pm on Tuesday, a gun battle ensued between Selim and Samad's groups after Samad and his men fired gunshots on the car carrying Selim and his associates in Kaliakor area. Selim at the time was passing the area on his way home at Akrain of Savar, police said, quoting locals.

On information, police rushed to the scene and bought the situation under control, said Mohsinul Kadir, officer-in-charge of Savar Model Police Station.

After two separate cases were filed by the two feuding groups, police arrested the three and confiscated three shotguns from their possession. They were sent to a Dhaka court in the evening, he added.