'Bomb-like device' found on Gaibandha rail track turns out to be a toy

The “bomb-like device” that was found on the railway tracks of Gaibandha and gave a scare turned out to be a toy, police said after “investigation”.

The plastic-like device was first spotted under the slippers of a train at Bamandanga Railway Station during a district-wide hartal, our local correspondent reports.

“We recovered the bomb-like object and took it into our custody for inspection,” said Atiar Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sundarganj Police Station.

Around 6:30pm in the evening, the OC told The Daily Star they could confirm that the object was rather a children’s toy.

The Santahar-bound train that came in from Lalmonirhat was stationery when the object caught attention around 10:00am. Informed, police immediately removed the object from the rail tracks.

Just two days ago, the local lawmaker of Gaibandha-1 constituency, was shot dead by assailants inside his own home. Though a case has been filed, police are yet to make any arrest in this regard.

Awami League activists have been clamping dawn-to-dusk shutdown in the district protesting the killing since yesterday. Today too, they were active on the streets.

As our correspondent reported, pro-shutdown activists blocked the railway track at Bamandanga station and forced the Santahar bound train to a halt around 7:00am.