A Dhaka court today sentenced eight people, including GK Shamim – a disgraced contractor who gained infamy during the “casino raids” of late 2019, to life term imprisonment in an arms case. The other seven are all GK Shamim’s bodyguards: Md Zahidul Islam, Md Shahidul Islam, Md Kamal Hossain, Md Shamsad Hossain, Md Aminul Islam, Md Delwar Hossain, and Md Murad Hossain. Third Additional Metropolitan Session Court Judge Sheikh Samidul Islam passed the judgment. Read: ACC approves chargesheet against GK Shamim They were brought to the court from jail in the morning. GK Shamim, who was known as an influential contractor of Sabujbagh, Basabo and Motijheel areas of the capital, was arrested on September 20, 2019. Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) seized illegal firearms and fixed deposit receipts worth Tk 165 crore, Tk 1.8 crore in cash and foreign currencies from his house and office at Niketan. Read: GK Shamim indicted for money laundering The elite force filed three cases – one under narcotics control, one under money-laundering prevention and the other under arms act – against Shamim with Gulshan Police Station on September 21. In October 2019, Rab filed a charge sheet against the accused in the arms case. The official trial proceeding in the case began on February 28, after the court framed charges against the eight accused rejecting an appeal for acquittal. Read GK Shamim: Court sets Sept 25 for verdict in arms case

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) detained a man along with two illegal firearms and ammunition from Satkhira border early Saturday. The arrestee was identified as Md Badruzzaman, 34, son of Dabir Uddin of village Uttar Vadiali under Kalaroa police station in Satkhira district. Sources at the BGB headquarters here on Saturday said based on secret information, a special patrol team of BGB) conducted anti-smuggling drives at Uttarar Vadiali, 500 yards inside Bangladesh territory from Satkhira border at around 00:45 am. Also read: Man held with drugs in Teknaf During the drive, the patrol team recovered one foreign pistol , two rounds of bullet and one locally made pistol and detained Md Badruzzaman, said Public Relations Officer of the BGB headquarters Md Shariful Islam. The seized arms and ammunition were handed over to the Kalaroa police station for legal action against the accused. Also read: Ctg woman buys Yaba pills to frame hubby, held

Customs officials recovered two eight mm pistols and 60 rounds of bullets hidden in a a consignment of household goods at Chattogram port on Sunday.  Following a tip off officials conducted a search operation and recovered the firearms arms, ammunitions inside a carton with household goods brought from Italy, said Mohammad Salahuddin Rezvi, Deputy Commissioner of Chattogram Customs. Also read: Customs official complain of threat on life by smugglers  He said two more plastic made guns were recovered and they are suspecting those to be just toys.  According to documents the consignment was sent from Rome by a Bangladeshi expat named Rajib Barua to the address of Kamrul Hasan, a resident of CGS Colony in the port city.  The customs official said law enforcing force has been informed of the recovery to take action in this regard. Also read: 2 drug dealers held with firearms, drug in city

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) have detained a drug dealer and his associate along with yaba pills, crystal methamphetamine (crystal meth or ice) and firearms from Hazaribagh of the city. The detainees were identified as one of the ring leaders of drug dealing Md Abdullah Monir alias Pichchi Monir, 33, and his associate Md Jubaer Hossain, 30. Read:SC imposes ban on transporting Phensedyl for being a drug According to a media release from Rab Headquarter, a team of Rab-2, tipped off, arrested the duo after conducting a drive at a flat in Modhubazar of Hazaribagh area on Thursday night. During the drive, two foreign pistols, magazines, 12 rounds of ammunition, 18,770 yaba pills, six grams of crystal meth and cash Tk 4.60 lakh were seized from their  In December 2020, Department of Narcotics Control arrested Monir and his wife along with firearms and yaba pills from the city's Mohammadpur area, according to the release.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) detained three suspected terrorists with a large quantity of arms busting a terrorist hideout in the remote hilly area of Jungle Salimpur at Sitakunda upazila in Chattogram. The detainees were identified as Andha Jamal, 42, of Khulna, Siraj, 35, of Lalmonirhat and Chashma Mizan of Banshkhali. Read: 2 killed in JSS-UPDF gunfight in Rangamati Nurul Absar, assistant director (Media) of Rab-7, said acting on a tip off, a team of Rab-7 made the arrests conducting a drive at Salimpur jungle on Saturday night. Later, while conducting another drive to recover firearms from the hideout with the detainees, the gang of top terrorist Mashiur Rahman Prakash, a former AL leader now under custody, led by son Shiblu, hurled brick-bats and opened fire on them, forcing the Rab members to fire back. At that time, Mashiur's son Mohirul Hasan alias Shibli and several other terrorists managed to escape the spot. During the drive, Rab seized 10 firearms, a foreign pistol, a sharp knife, 22 rounds of ammunition, military gazettes, military uniforms, military binoculars and illegal coins from the terrorist hideout. Read: ‘Pirate’ killed in gunfight with Rab in Barguna Three cases were filed at Sitakunda police station in this regard, said the official. Earlier on December 27 last year, Rab arrested Mashiur Rahman, an accused in 26 cases, one of the top terrorists in Chittagong and a former Awami League leader, along with a number of firearms.

Three licensed firearms of former State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Murad Hassan, and his wife Dr Jahanara Ehsan have been handed over to Dhanmondi Police Station. A day after the filing of a General Diary (GD) by Dr Jahanara against Murad, the couple handed over the firearms to the police station on Saturday night, Ikram Ali Mia, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Dhanmondi Police Station told UNB on Sunday. Read: Murad in hot water again as wife files GD against him Among the three firearms, the OC said, one shotgun and one pistol belong to Dr Murad Hasan, while another shotgun belongs to his wife. Replying to a question, Ikram said the couple deposited the arms at the police station willingly following the GD. He said they will start an investigation into the complaint of Jahanara after getting permission from the court. “We’ve already sought permission from the court to carry out the investigation, but we’re yet to get the court order.” On Thursday evening, Dr Jahanara registered the GD against her beleaguered husband with the same police station accusing him of torturing and issuing her a death threat. She called 999, the National Emergency Service, seeking cooperation from the police to save her from her husband’s torture. As police visited her residence, Jahanara told law enforcers that she has been subjected to physical and mental torture by her husband and even he threatened to kill her. Read: Another case lodged against Murad and Nahid in Pabna On December 7 last, Murad Hassan resigned from the cabinet following the instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for his offensive and indecent remarks on women. After the resignation from the cabinet, Murad had left the country in his desperate bid to hide amid widespread criticism at home, but his attempt to stay abroad went in vain as he had to get back home having failed to enter Canada and the UAE.

Ehteshamul Haque Bhola, an accused in ex-police superintendent Babul Akter's wife Mahmuda Khanam Mitu murder case, has confessed to  supplying firearms used in the killing before a Chattogram court. Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate Shafi Uddin recorded his confessional statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on Saturday afternoon, said Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) and Chattogram Superintendent of Police Naima Sultana on Saturday night. However, SP Naima Sultana did not say anything about what Bhola said in her statement. She said Bhola was sent to jail after recording of his statement. Read: Mitu murder: Arms supplier Bhola arrested in Jeshore Santosh Chakma, the investigative officer in the case and PBI Inspector (Chattogram Metro Zone) said, Bhola was arrested from Benapole on Thursday while trying to flee the country without surrendering to a lower court and brought to Chattogram on Friday. Bhola was earlier arrested on June 27 in 2016 and jailed for several days. According to Bhola's confessional statement at that time, the firearms used in Mitu's murder was recovered from the custody of Bhola's associate Monir. Later, Bhola was made accused in Mitu murder case and arm case. However, the High Court granted him four weeks' bail on September 15. He recently applied for anticipatory bail before the High Court after a re-arrest warrant was issued against him, but the HC ordered Bhola to surrender to a lower court. On June 5, 2016, unidentified assailants gunned down Babul's wife Mitu at the port city's GEC intersection while she was going to drop her son for a bus of Chittagong Cantonment Public School and College. Read: Mitu murder: Court rejects bail plea of husband Babul Akhter Soon after the crime, a murder case was filed at Panchlaish Police Station against three unidentified men, following a complaint by Babul. On May 12 this year, PBI submitted its final report in the case. He is currently behind the bars over a murder case filed by Mitu’s father.

A suspected robber was killed in a ‘gunfight’ with Rab members in Banshkhali  upazila of Chattogram  early Wednesday. The deceased was identified as Md Alamgir alias ‘Alam Dakat’, 45, a member of a robber gang in Bashkhali upazila. Read: ‘Drug peddler’ killed in Cox’s Bazar ‘gunfight’ Rab sources said when a team was patrolling Gondamara village in the upazila in the early hours of Wednesday  some miscreants suddenly opened fire on them, forcing them to fire back. At one stage, Alam was caught in the line of fire while the gang members managed to flee the scene. Later, he was later taken to a local hospital where  doctors declared him dead. Read: Two youths killed in Keraniganj ‘gunfight’ Four firearms, three sharp weapons, 13 bullets were recovered from the spot. Chattogram Rab Assistant Director (Media) Nurul Absar said there are nine cases against Alamgir with  different police stations of Chattogram including Banshkhali police station.

The increasing illegal arrival of small firearms reportedly from India to Bangladesh is causing a new headache for the country’s law enforcement agencies, thanks to a well-organised gang of smugglers. The gunrunners have allegedly established an efficient network that spreads across the Indian states of Bihar, West Bangladesh and several Bangladesh districts, especially along the border. Police in both countries are often forced to play a hide-and-seek game with the smugglers. Originating mainly from Bihar, the firearms, most of them 7.65MM pistols, are sold at a high price again through a network to the criminals in Bangladesh, investigators have found. They say at least nine gunrunners of Jashore district have been involved in distributing illegal firearms in various districts, including Dhaka, Khulna and Bagerhat. The firearms are smuggled into Bangladesh mainly through Jashore frontier.  Several Indian arms smugglers’ syndicate, who are locally known as ‘Mohajon’, have been involved in this risky but lucrative clandestine business using Bangladeshi labourers as carriers. The transactions of money are done through ‘hundi ‘and mobile banking apps.   Detectives of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) have got the information about the nine Jashore-based Bangladeshi gunrunners and their Indian partners while investigating a recent case of illegal arms consignment.   The detectives have found out that the firearms sneaked through Benapole border are being carried from as far as Bihar.       Based on secret information, three specialized teams of DB (Gulshan Division) arrested five Bangladeshi gunrunners from ‘Borobazar ‘ of Mirpur embankment under Darus Salam police station on  September 1.  They also recovered eight foreign made pistols, eight rounds of bullet, eight blank magazines, five mobile phone sets and a private car from their possessions.  The arrested gunrunners were identified as Md Akul Hossain, 37, Md Abdul Azim, 28, Md Ilias Hossain, Md Milon Hossain, and Md Fazlur Rahman, 35. All are inhabitants of Benapole and Sharsha upazilas in Jashore district.

A Dhaka court on Monday sentenced Abdul Malek, a driver of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), to 30 years’ imprisonment in an arms case -- 15 years each under two sections of the relevant act. Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court-3 Md Rabiul Alam pronounced the judgement in the morning. Read: Arms case: Verdict against DGHS driver on Sept 20 Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court-3 fixed September 20 for delivering its judgment on September 13 following the conclusion of arguments by both sides.    On March 11, the court framed charges against him in the case. Abdul Malek pleaded not guilty and demanded justice when Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Kayesh framed charges against him. On January 11, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) submitted a chargesheet in the case. Rab members arrested Malek from Turag thana area in the city on September 20, 2020 on charge of extortion and involvement in illegal firearms trade. Read: DGHS driver indicted in arms case Tipped off, a Rab-1 battalion conducted a drive at a 7-storey building at Kamarpara under Turag police station and arrested him. One foreign-made pistol, one magazine, five bullets, fake currency worth around Tk1.50 lakh, one laptop and one mobile phone were recovered from his possession. He was allegedly involved in many illegal activities and made huge wealth by transferring employees of different departments through lobbying.