United News of Bangladesh

Two soldiers of the Bangladesh Army were killed and an officer was seriously injured in an accident during a field firing exercise at Hathazari Field Firing Range in Chattogram district on Wednesday. The accident occurred while a tank was firing during the exercise, according to a media release of ISPR. The identities of the deceased and injured officer have not been disclosed yet. The injured officer is being airlifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka for better treatment. Investigation is underway to know the cause of the accident, it said.  

Customs officials have seized 1,655 mobile phones, estimated to be worth around Tk 5 crore, from a consignment declared as knit fabrics at the airfreight area of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The consignment, imported in the name of Thianis Apparels Limited, arrived from Hong Kong and contained the phones concealed in or among rolls of fabric, according to preliminary information from the NBR press release. The seized phones include 450 Redmi 14C handsets, 150 Redmi 15C handsets and another 1,055 old iPhones and phones of various Chinese brands. According to air cargo system records, the consignment was covered by Master Air Waybill (MAWB) No. 828-5678-2412 and House Air Waybill (HAWB) No. JGL57203. The consignee was listed as THIANIS APPARELS LIMITED, while the nature of goods was declared as “KNIT FABRICS”. The consignment weighed 895kg and comprised 20 packages. It arrived in Dhaka on Aug 31 aboard flight RH-6651. The House Air Waybill identified Zhejiang Shaoxing Xinhua Knitting Compsny as the shipper, while Janco Global Logistics Ltd. was mentioned in the Master Air Waybill. F F Cargo Service was listed as the freight forwarder. The discrepancy between the declared goods and the actual contents is significant. While the cargo records described the goods as “KNIT FABRICS,” another note mentioned “P COVER G ROLL CRT”. During inspection, customs officials found a large quantity of mobile phones concealed with the declared fabric consignment. Officials suspect the consignment involves misdeclaration and concealment of goods to evade applicable customs duties and taxes. The authorities are expected to determine the exact models and IMEI numbers of the seized phones and establish whether they are new or used. Their actual market value and the amount of applicable duties and taxes will also be assessed. The final financial implications of the seizure will become clear after the detailed inventory and valuation are completed. The seizure comes amid continued customs vigilance at the airport’s airfreight facilities to detect attempts to bring undeclared or misdeclared commercial goods into the country.

A Dhaka court on Tuesday placed eight more suspects on different terms of remand in a case filed over the killing of Special Branch (SB) Sub-Inspector Altaf Hossain in Savar's Aminbazar. Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate Tajul Islam Sohag passed the order after hearing a remand petition, said Arif Hossain, a sub-inspector of the prosecution department. Of the suspects, Md Alauddin, 29, Md Apon, 26, Md Jihad, 23, Imran Hossain, 25, Nur Mohammad Rudra, 24, and Md Golam Rabbi, 22 were each placed on six days’ remand, while Billal, 34, and Delwar, 33, were each put on three days’ remand. Earlier on Monday, the same court placed the main accused, Zahirul Islam, on five days’ remand in the case. Altaf Hossain, 58, was beaten to death in the Baradeshi area of Aminbazar on Sunday following a dispute over parking a private car in front of a garment factory owned by his son. The victim’s wife filed a murder case with Savar Model Police Station against 15 named and several unnamed people.

A nationwide special joint operation will be launched to recover government weapons looted from various police stations and government offices during the July 2024 mass uprising, with the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) acting as the principal coordinating agency. RAB’s Media Wing disclosed the decision in a statement issued from its headquarters on Tuesday, seeking public cooperation and announcing rewards for information leading to their recovery. The elite force urged anyone having information about the lost government weapons to contact it at 01777711441, 01777711442, 01777711443, 01777711444 or 0255669999. The hotline numbers can also be contacted through IMO, WhatsApp, Telegram and Viber, it said. The RAB, however, did not disclose details of the reward in the statement. According to a media report, a total of 5,763 firearms were looted or went missing from police stations and other government installations on August 5, 2024 during unrest following the fall of the Awami League government. Of them, more than 4,426 have been recovered, leaving at least 1,337 untraced till December 2025. Most of the unrecovered weapons were small firearms, including pistols and revolvers.

Preliminary investigation by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) indicated that an extramarital affair may have been behind the much-talked-about triple-murder in Jamgora of Ashulia. A suspect has been arrested, said Anisur Rahman, a sub-inspector of Dhaka District PBI, on Tuesday afternoon. He said the PBI launched a shadow investigation shortly after the incident and arrested the suspect. His identity is being withheld for the sake of the investigation. Necessary evidence has also been recovered, he said, adding that the specific motive and other details of the killings would be disclosed after completion of the investigation. Nazma Khatun, 39, daughter of Atiar Rahman of Borpukuria village in Dinajpur’s Nawabganj, her husband Alamgir Kabir, 45, and their child were found dead at a house at Madhya Jamgara in Ashulia early Saturday. Nazma worked at a local garment factory while Alamgir sold betel leaves and cigarettes. On the night of September 5, locals alerted the national emergency service 999 after a foul smell emanated from a locked room on the second floor of Hazrat Ali’s house in Jamgora. Police later went to the spot, broke open the lock and recovered the bodies of the three victims. Nazma’s sister, Shapla Begum, filed a murder case with Ashulia Police Station. According to the PBI’s preliminary investigation, Nazma and Alamgir returned home after Nazma finished work at the factory on the afternoon of September 1. Later, the suspect entered their home at Alamgir’s invitation. A quarrel broke out during which the three were killed and then the killer fled locking the door from outside, according to the preliminary findings. Dhaka District Police Superintendent Shamima Parvin said the preliminary investigation indicated that an extramarital affair may have been behind the incident. Alamgir might have called the suspect to the house to confront and warn him, she said. However, police said the exact motive and circumstances surrounding the killings would be established after completion of the investigation.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested a man in connection with a gunfight between two groups over control of drug trading in the capital’s Gendaria area on August 30. The arrestee was identified as Mohammad Shaheen, 34. A team of RAB-10 arrested him from the Sutrapur area of the capital around 7:30pm on Monday following intelligence surveillance and a tip-off, said RAB-10 Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police (Media) Tapan Sarker. The gunfight took place around 9:30pm on August 30 near the Munshirtek-Karatitola intersection under Gendaria Police Station over control of drug trading and establishing dominance in the area. People from both sides engaged in a clash using locally made weapons and firearms and exchanged gunfire, leaving several pedestrians injured, according to RAB. During the clash, a business office was attacked, and its glass door and television were vandalised. Following the incident, RAB-10 intensified intelligence surveillance to identify and arrest those involved and recover illegal firearms. As part of the drive, an operational team of RAB-10’s CPC-1, Jatrabari Camp, conducted a special operation in Sutrapur based on intelligence information and arrested Shaheen, it said. The arrested man was later handed over to the police station concerned, Tapan said. Meanwhile, police had earlier arrested several people in connection with the incident.

The High Court on Sunday granted bail to Bidisha Siddiqi, former wife of late Jatiya Party Chairman and former President HM Ershad, in a fraud case, in which she was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. A High Court bench comprising Justice Md Khairul Alam and Justice Md Rafizul Islam passed the order following a bail petition. Bidisha was arrested on August 25 in connection with the case. On August 26, a sent her to jail. Advocates Fazlur Rahman Khan and Masud Mia appeared for Bidisha during the hearing. Later, Masud Mia said there is no legal bar to Bidisha's release as there are no other cases pending against her. On May 20 last, a Dhaka court sentenced Bidisha to two years’ imprisonment in the fraud case involving a flat. The court also fined her Tk 10,000, with an additional one month’s imprisonment in default of payment, and issued a warrant for her arrest. The case was filed at Gulshan Police Station on February 2, 2008 by businessman AKM Mosharraf Hossain Sikdar of Dhaka’s Pallabi area. According to the case statement, Mosharraf paid Bidisha Tk 75 lakh on July 10, 2001 for a flat in Baridhara that was supposed to be handed over by July 10, 2002. However, despite the passage of several years, the flat was not handed over, the complaint said. Later, Bidisha allegedly issued a cheque for Tk 72 lakh on February 9, 2005, which was dishonoured due to insufficient funds. The complainant also alleged that instead of returning the money or handing over the flat, Bidisha delayed the matter on various pretexts and later threatened to kill him.

A sub-inspector (SI) of the Special Branch (SB) of police was beaten to death allegedly by a group of assailants over the parking of a private car in front of his son’s garment factory at Aminbazar in Savar on Saturday night. The deceased was identified as SI Altaf Hossain, 58, who was posted in City SB (Marketing Intelligence) of Dhaka, and the son of late Juran Ali Sheikh of Rupnai Gachpara village under Enayetpur Police Station in Sirajganj. The incident occurred around 8:30pm in the Baradeshi Madina Housing Area of Aminbazar. According to the City SB, a group of around 20-25 people attacked Altaf and his younger son Ariful Islam, 26, in front of the garment factory owned by Altaf’s elder son Sharif, 33, over the parking of a private car there, leaving them injured. The injured were taken to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared Altaf dead around 9:18pm, it said, adding that Ariful is undergoing treatment at the hospital. Altaf lived with his family in the Madina Housing Area. Additional Superintendent of Police of Savar Model Police Station Md Jahangir Alam said police arrested a suspect, Zahurul Islam, 30, early Sunday in connection with the killing. He said Zahurul, son of Moslem Uddin, was arrested around 4:30am. Police said Altaf was a tenant at a house owned by Md Alamin in the same area and also owned a five-decimal plot there, where the small garment factory was established. Local resident Abul Kalam Azad said the incident occurred over the parking of a vehicle in front of the garment factory.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have arrested three people, including a bus driver, in connection with the recovery of a man’s body from the Banani section of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway. They were arrested during a joint operation in the capital’s Mohakhali area on Saturday, said Shah Alam, additional superintendent of police and senior assistant director (Operations and Media) of RAB-1. The arrested were identified as bus driver Sohel Rana, 40, supervisor Saju, 28, and helper Monir, 18. Law enforcers also seized a Raj Classic bus, registration number Sirajganj-H-11-0085, which they suspect may have been used in connection with the incident. The three were handed over to Banani Police Station of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Shah Alam said. The development came a day after police recovered the body of Ismail Hossain, 50, near the entrance to the Banani section of the elevated expressway. His mouth was covered with adhesive tape and he was initially unidentified. After recovering the body, RAB-1 and police examined CCTV footage from the elevated expressway and identified several suspicious vehicles. They suspect Ismail may have been strangled and that his body was dumped from a vehicle onto the expressway. However, it is yet to be established whether the seized bus was used to transport Ismail or dump his body. According to his family, Ismail was returning to Gazipur from Jamalpur carrying Tk 5 lakh, which he had received from the sale of land.

The government has taken an initiative to construct multistoried residential complexes for judicial officers in all 64 districts and eight metropolitan cities to address their housing crisis. The complexes are planned to be 10 to 15 stories high, depending on the location, according to a PID handout. The Law and Justice Division under the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has instructed district and sessions judges to identify suitable sites and submit spatial layouts and necessary information for construction of the buildings. The Planning Unit of the Law and Justice Division issued a letter in this regard on September 2. According to the letter, around 30 to 50 judges of different ranks are currently working in civil and criminal courts and various special tribunals in each district. However, except in a few districts, there are no adequate or integrated government residential facilities for judges in most districts. As a result, most judges have to live in rented houses, which, according to the letter, poses security risks to the judges and their families because of the sensitive nature of the cases they handle. The Law and Justice Division said adequate land is available in many places under district judgeships for construction of residential buildings. It said constructing modern 10- to 15-storey residential complexes in each district and metropolitan city would not only help resolve the existing housing crisis but also meet increased demand in the future through optimum use of available land. The letter also said it would be easier to ensure CCTV surveillance, designated entry points and round-the-clock armed police security at such centralised residential complexes. The buildings are planned under a project titled “Construction of Residential Buildings for Judicial Officers in 64 Districts and 8 Metropolitan Cities.” Under the project, district and sessions judges have been asked to provide details and spatial layouts showing the amount of land available at court premises, or at old court and Munsif court premises under their jurisdiction. If sufficient land is not available on court premises, they have also been asked to suggest potential sites within one kilometre of the district judge court building where land could be acquired if necessary. The executive engineers of the Public Works Department in the respective districts have also been asked to take necessary steps to conduct digital surveys of the selected sites.