United News of Bangladesh

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) officials have detected a consignment at Chattogram Port containing about 8.25 tonnes of tobacco or tobacco-like products, including some powder-like substances, allegedly imported using the identity of a business it said not aware of. The items were found during a physical examination of a consignment declared under a House Bill of Lading, with officials finding discrepancies between the declared and actual goods, according to a CIID press release. According to CIID, the House B/L, No. ISLCCU2627CGP095, declared the goods as “Pan Masala and Zarda (Chewing tobacco product)”, with 473 packages weighing 8,974 kg. During a physical examination on September 27, officials found 470 packages containing 8,250.4 kg of tobacco or tobacco-like materials. The items included 7,325.4 kg of dark brown items in 421 packages, 527 kg of brown items in 31 packages, 273 kg of grey items in 13 packages and 125 kg of white items in five packages. The CIID said some of the recovered materials included powders of different colours that appeared externally to resemble narcotic substances. However, laboratory and chemical tests are required to determine whether the powders contain any narcotic, prohibited or controlled substances. Their actual composition will be established after testing the collected samples, it said. Meanwhile, the second House B/L, No. ISLCCU2627CGP096, declared the goods as “Printed Paper Catalogue”, with 1,570 packages having a declared gross weight of 9,859.60 kg. Physical examination found 1,570 packages of suspected scrap paper weighing 9,263 kg, indicating a significant discrepancy between the declared description and the goods actually found. The two consignments together contained 2,040 packages weighing 17,513.4 kg, or about 17.51 tonnes. Of the total, around 8.25 tonnes comprised tobacco or tobacco-like materials and suspicious powder-like substances, while about 9.26 tonnes comprised suspected scrap paper. CIID said the consignment arrived from Kolkata aboard MV Uddipon Express under Manifest No. 4524/2026 and Voyage No. 011. The vessel departed Kolkata on September 20 and reached Chattogram Port on September 22. Both House B/Ls were issued under the same Master B/L No. 301174347. The identity of the declared importer has also raised questions. Customs documents identified Authoy Enterprise as the importer/consignee, but the proprietor of the business reportedly informed the authorities in writing that neither he nor his firm had any knowledge of the import and had no direct or indirect involvement with the consignment. He expressed concern that an unscrupulous group may have used the company’s name and import-related information to bring in the goods. The CIID is examining the discrepancies in the declarations, the use of the business identity and the actual nature of the goods, while further action will depend on the investigation and laboratory test results.

Police have arrested a man and his son with a foreign-made pistol following a raid near the Rajapur Land Office in Belkuchi upazila of Sirajganj. The arrestees are Jelhaq Uddin, 52, and his son Nasir Uddin, 28, residents of Rajapur village in the upazila. Shahidul Islam, assistant superintendent of police (Belkuchi Circle), said police received a call through the national emergency service 999 on Sunday morning reporting a shooting incident near the Rajapur Land Office following a land dispute. Acting on the information, police rushed to the spot and arrested the father and son. Police also recovered a pistol, two spent cartridges, a magazine and two electric shock devices from the scene, the ASP said. A case has been filed against the two under the Arms Act, and they were sent to jail on Sunday afternoon, he added.

A Dhaka court on Sunday sent 27 people to jail in a case filed over allegations that they chanted “Joy Bangla” slogans and created an unstable and disorderly situation inside the central office of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSad) during a police raid on Saturday. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Joshita Islam passed the order after a hearing on a petition filed by the investigating officer of the case, Sub-Inspector Nazmul Islam of Paltan Model Police Station. The accused are Didarul Alam Tuhin, Iman Ahmed Emon, Molla Md Shahjahan Siraj, Joy Sarker, Miraj Ahmed, Miraj Malitha, Rabiul Islam, Milon Kumar Mahanta, Kawsar Hossain, Anjan Shil, Jalal Uddin Mondal, Abdul Latif, Shamim Ahmed, Ahmed Ahsan Habib, Sujan Ali, Tasikul Islam, Saifullah Sayek, Nayan Ali, Sajidul Islam Tuhin, Tajul Islam, Nishkar Samrat Hossain Talukdar, Anwar Hossain, Alamgir Hossain, Al Amin Howlader, Tushar Ali, Rasidul Haque and Mir Muktisur Rahman. The court also fixed Monday for hearing their bail petitions. Police said more than 200 people were taken into custody during a raid at the JaSad headquarters in Dhaka’s Gulistan area at around 4pm on Saturday. Following a screening process, 27 people were formally arrested under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and produced before the court. According to the investigating officer, the detainees failed to provide satisfactory explanations for their presence at the location during interrogation. Police initially suspected that they might be involved in a cognisable offence and sought their detention to facilitate further investigation.

Police have detained three people over the vandalism at content creator and YouTuber Salman Muqtadir’s studio in the capital’s ECB Chattar area, saying the studio was not the target of the attack and no extortion incident took place. Assistant Commissioner (Cantonment Zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Nazmul Alam said the vandalism took place following a dispute over land between New Gini Properties Ltd and the owner of an adjacent plot, claiming that it was portrayed differently in the media. He told UNB that the police are working on the incident and that the actual circumstances can be better understood by visiting the spot. “There was no incident of extortion. Salman Muqtadir’s studio was not the target,” Nazmul said. According to him, the people involved in the dispute were unable to access their land and later came with others and tried to enter the property through a gate. “At that time, Salman Muqtadir’s studio was in the middle. They did not know that it was Salman Muqtadir’s studio. They came with people and vandalised that as well,” the DMP official said. He said police detained three people and recovered local weapons from them. A residential complex, including the content creation studio Salman Muqtadir, was vandalised on Saturday night. The attackers damaged cameras, furniture, recording equipment and other facilities at Brownfish Studio, where he and his team regularly produce content. His YouTube Silver and Gold Play Buttons were also reportedly damaged in the vandalism. Salman Muqtadir, speaking to reporters at the scene, said he was not the primary target of the attack and believed it was linked to a dispute between the attackers and the property owners. He said the studio had hosted shoots for numerous clients and had substantial investments in equipment and production. The content creator said the financial losses were not yet assessed, but the damage to his creative work was more concerning to him than the financial loss, describing it as an attack on his dream and passion.    

The Special Response Battalion (SRB) recovered a pistol, 15 rounds of ammunition, two magazines and a pistol holster, reportedly looted from a police station, from an abandoned spot in Kumarkhali of Kushtia on Saturday. The weapons and ammunition were recovered during a raid around 8pm in Baradi village under Kaya Union of Kumarkhali upazila, Md Rezaul Haque, company commander (additional superintendent of police) of the SRB Kushtia Camp, said in a press release issued on Saturday night. According to the release, acting on a tip-off, an SRB team raided the residence of Md Mobarak Ali, 70, in Baradi village. During the operation, the team recovered the pistol, ammunition, magazines and holster from a hole in the ground inside a room. The SRB said the pistol was among the weapons looted from Kushtia Model Police Station on August 5, 2024, during the July-August mass uprising. Md Rezaul Haque said further legal proceedings regarding the recovered weapons and ammunition were underway. He added that SRB operations to maintain law and order and recover illegal weapons would continue.

Airport Armed Police Battalion on Thursday detained three people with 397.7 grams of gold ornaments, eight mobile phones and three laptops at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The detainees were identified as Rabia Begum, 48, Akash Ahmed, 35, and Md Jalil, 46. At around 2:50am, the three were allegedly found moving suspiciously on the ground floor of the airport's multi-storey car parking area. When they noticed the presence of police and attempted to flee, members of Airport APBn detained them. A search of the detainees led to the recovery of 397.7 grams of gold ornaments, equivalent to around 36 bhori, eight mobile phones and three laptops, said the APBn. During initial interrogation, the detainees reportedly said the gold, mobile phones and laptops had been brought into Bangladesh from different countries through unidentified passengers for smuggling purposes. Police also said the detainees had allegedly been involved in gold smuggling at the airport for a long time. A regular case was filed with Airport Police Station on Thursday against the three under Sections 25B(1)(b) and 25D of the Special Powers Act, 1974. According to the case statement, the detainees allegedly acted in collusion with unidentified passengers to bring gold into the country illegally for smuggling purposes while evading government revenue. Mohammad Nazir Ahmed Khan, Police Superintendent (Operations) of Airport APBn, said the unit was actively working to prevent crimes and smuggling at the airport. “Airport APBn is committed to performing its duties professionally to prevent drug and gold smuggling. Our operations to prevent any kind of smuggling using the airport will continue,” he said.  

A Dhaka court on Thursday placed Satkhira-4 MP and expelled Jamaat leader Gazi Nazrul Islam on a four-day remand again in a case over abetment to suicide of his second wife Mariam. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ripon passed the order when DB inspector Mohammad Salauddin produced him before the court after completion of his four-day remand. The DB inspector also sought 7-day remand for Gazi Nazrul. Earlier on September 21, a Dhaka court placed Satkhira-4 MP GM Nazrul Islam on a four-day remand  in the case. According to the remand petition, the MP and his first wife were put on remand to investigate the suspected role of the accused in instigating, provoking, pressuring, intimidating, or otherwise inducing the victim to commit suicide. The body of Nazrul’s second wife Mosammat Mariam Khatun, 19, was found hanging at NAM Bhaban in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area September 20. Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Monir Hossain said they found the body hanging from a ceiling fan inside a room of Flat No. 203 on the third floor of Building No. 5 of NAM Bhaban. Later, Nazrul and his first wife were taken into police custody for questioning. Masum Billah, father of Mariam, filed the case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station. Mariam’s maternal uncle Obaidur Rahman was also made accused in the case. Gazi Nazrul Islam was elected MP from the Satkhira-4 constituency in the 13th parliamentary election on a Jamaat-e-Islami nomination. In July, a video showing him in a private moment with a young woman circulated on social media. He later identified the woman as his second wife  Mariam Khatun. Jamaat-e-Islami subsequently expelled Gazi Nazrul Islam from the party.  

A mobile court on Wednesday sentenced nine people to jail for slaughtering 13 horses and processing their meat for supply to hotels and restaurants in Dhaka and surrounding areas. The convicts were Mizanur Rahman of Purba Dashra in Manikganj Sadar; Rubel of Telipara in Gazipur; Sohel Rana of Tulsipur in Jamalpur; Emon Hasan, Tuhin, and Masud Rana, all of Badda in Dhaka; Ibrahim Khalil Dighirchala in Gazipur; Humayun Kabir of Dhanbari in Tangail; and Maruf of Bara Berait in Dhaka. One of the accused was sentenced to one year in jail without labour, while the other eight received six months each. The sentences were handed down under Section 24 of the Animal Slaughter and Meat Quality Control Act, 2011, for violating Section 4 of the law.

A Rajbari court on Wednesday sentenced the prime accused to life imprisonment in a case filed over the murder of an expatriate’s wife in Pangsha upazila of the district in 2023. Rajbari Special Sessions Judge Md Yusuf Hossain handed down the verdict with the convict, Milon Sheikh, 28, standing in the dock. The court also fined him Tk 50,000, in default of which he will have to serve one year more in prison. Milon, son of Khalil Sheikh, was a neighbour of victim Runa Khatun, 30, wife of Qatar expatriate Anisur Rahman of Khamardangi village. Two other accused in the case were sent to the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal for trial as they are minors. According to the prosecution, Runa went to sleep with her nine-year-old daughter Sinha and one-and-a-half-year-old son Hussain at their newly built house around 10:30pm on August 19, 2023. Around 1:30am the following day, Sinha woke up to her brother’s crying and found her mother missing from the bed. She saw Milon on the veranda and Runa’s body, with both legs tied, lying in the yard. She screamed, prompting Milon and two unidentified men to flee. Runa’s brother Raihan Biswas filed a case against Milon as the prime accused and two unidentified people. Police later arrested Milon, along with two teenage boys from the same village.

Special Response Battalion (SRB) arrested alleged terrorist and juvenile gang leader Srabon alias “Kutta Srabon” and three of his associates from Rupganj in Narayanganj. The elite Force  also recovered a foreign-made pistol, a bullet, a magazine and six machetes from their possessions. The arrestees are Srabon, 20, and his associates Siam, 20, Dipu, 19, and Kamruzzaman, 19. Lt Col Mohammad Masud Parvez, commanding officer of SRB-11, disclosed the information at a press conference at the SRB media centre in Karwan Bazar on Wednesday. He said a special SRB-11 team conducted a drive in Chanpara area of Rupganj around 1am on Tuesday night based on secret information and arrested Srabon and his associates with the arms and ammunition. According to Masud Parvez, Srabon had long been operating a juvenile gang and a criminal group in Rupganj and adjoining areas, involving teenagers and young people, and creating an atmosphere of disorder. He said Srabon and his followers were accused of brutally killing fruit trader Rony in Rupganj recently. Following the killing, local residents held human chains and protest programmes demanding Srabon's execution. The SRB commander said Srabon and his gang also allegedly set fire to the house of case complainant Amena Begum in Tatki area of Tarabo Municipality at night after she refused to withdraw a case against him, in an attempt to burn her to death. He said the gang also carried out attacks, vandalism and looting at houses when traders and local residents refused to pay extortion. “Whenever anyone lodged a complaint against his criminal activities with police or law enforcement agencies, Srabon and his gang would directly target the complainant,” Masud Parvez said. He said the gang would go to the complainant’s house after learning about a complaint and launch attacks, often injuring or disabling victims with sharp weapons. As an example, he said the gang once attacked a complainant’s house and hacked four members of the same family after a case was filed. Amena Begum’s house was also attacked after she filed a case, he said, adding that local residents had held a human chain in May accusing Srabon of killing a fruit trader. Due to fear of his activities, ordinary people were reluctant to lodge complaints against him with police, he said. Masud Parvez said 18 cases, including murder, attack, arson, abduction, extortion and assault, had been filed against Srabon with police stations in Rupganj and adjoining areas. He is also the prime accused in the widely discussed Nadim abduction case filed over an incident on Sept 16, he said. The SRB commander said controlling extortion and drug trading was allegedly Srabon’s main criminal activity in the area. Srabon had also been arrested in a joint forces operation in 2024, but was released on bail after around six to six and a half months and allegedly became involved in similar criminal activities again, he said. Describing the gang structure, Masud Parvez said Srabon led one of the two major juvenile gangs in Rupganj, while the other was known as the Nabi group. Around 50 to 60 members were active under Srabon’s gang and considered him their idol, he said. To evade arrest, Srabon would not stay in one place and used to hide in different areas on different nights, according to the SRB commander. Asked about the word “Kutta” in Srabon’s alias, Masud Parvez said the word was also associated with his father’s name and that his father had himself been accused in several cases and was a listed criminal. Masud Parvez also said a new initiative was being taken to use body cameras during arrest operations so that video footage could be submitted to courts as evidence, making the judicial process against criminals easier and stricter. The arrestees were handed over to Rupganj Police Station for further legal action, he said.