AK-22, rifle recovered in Ctg raid

The Rapid Action Battalion claimed to have recovered firearms, including an AK-22 rifle, from a slum in the port city yesterday.

Acting on a tip-off, a Rab-7 team recovered two rifles, two magazines, four machetes and 16 rocket flares from different shanties of Bastuhara Slum during a three-hour raid from 8:30am, said officials of the elite force.

Bastuhara Slum, built on Railway land, is infamous for drug peddling and clashes between rival groups over establishing supremacy there.

The groups used locally-made firearms and sharp weapons, but the recovery of the AK-22 rifle is an indication of militant's involvement, said Rab.

The arms might belong to militants as AK-22 appears to be their favourite, said Lt Col Miftah Uddin Ahmed, commanding officer of Rab-7.

Militants in guise of low-income people might have kept the weapons there, he said, adding that the culprits fled sensing law enforcers' presence.

The Rab, however, detained two people for interrogation, said Miftah, but did not disclose their identities.

“We are yet to confirm who brought the weapons to the slum. We are investigating.”

Militants used AK-22 rifles during the Holey Artisan attack in Gulshan on July 1.

Miftah said last year Rab recovered nine more AK-22 rifles, eight from the dens of militant outfit Shahid Hamja Brigade and one from pirates in Sandwip, Chittagong.

The firearm was also recovered from the militant dens in Dhaka's Kalyanpur and Narayanganj.

Bastuhara Slum houses about 300 shanties. Locals, however, believe the recovered weapons belong to drug peddlers, who sell yaba tablets, phensidyl and cannabis.

A slum dweller said they cannot protest against the criminals for fear of life.