United News of Bangladesh

Police in a drive arrested two people in a case filed over allegedly abetting a woman to commit suicide, from different parts of the country,  on Monday. The arrestees were identified as Minakshi Rani, 30 and Biki Babu alias Biki Hela. Deputy Commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Md Akhter Hossain, said after analysing the CCTV footage and with the help of technology, a team of police arrested Minakshi Rani from Mironjilla Harijon Polli in Bonghal area around 6:30 am. Police also arrested Biki Helal from Nabil Highway of Sirajganj district around 3:30 am. According to the case statement, Nisha Rani, 28, a friend of Minakkhi Rani went to the Dhakeshwari temple for puja on October 2. Nisha later introduced her ‘so-called' lover Biki Babu to Minakshi. From there they went to several places. At one stage, Minakshi and Biki became close, which irked Nisha. On that same day, Biki went to the house of Minakshi around 3:30 am in absence of her husband as he went to Cumilla for work purpose. As Nisha came to know the fact, she went to Minakshi’s house and found her and Biki in an intimate situation. Later, Nisha set herself on fire after pouring kerosene on her body. She was taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries around 1:25 am on Monday. A case was filed in this connection.

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has designated limited vending zones for hawkers and warned that those returning to unauthorised roads or footpaths will face confiscation of goods and legal action, Administrator Abdus Salam said on Monday. “Except Friday-Saturday, when we have designated some roads for holiday markets, no hawker will be allowed on any road,” he said while speaking to journalists after inspecting the area in front of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. He said the corporation had held several meetings with leaders of all major hawker organisations before finalising the arrangements. He said hawkers would also be allowed in some places where footpaths are sufficiently wide to leave adequate space for pedestrians, but stressed that the permission would not apply to all footpaths. “We have allowed some places where the footpaths are wide and there is space for people to walk. But we will not allow hawkers to use all footpaths,” he said. The DSCC administrator said the corporation wanted to improve Dhaka’s environment without depriving hawkers of their livelihoods, urging them to use only the designated spaces. “We don’t want to evict anyone,” he said. He said a Friday-Saturday holiday market had been arranged near Pirjangi Mazar, while hawkers had also been given space on the footpath opposite Ideal School on other days. He warned that hawkers who return to roads or unauthorised footpaths would face stricter enforcement. “If they do not refrain, there will be no alternative but to strictly enforce the law. Their goods will be confiscated and cases will be filed,” he said. The administrator also urged hawker leaders to honour their commitments, saying the corporation wanted to implement the arrangements through discussion rather than force. He said the move was part of the DSCC’s effort to make Dhaka green and clean while maintaining pedestrian movement and a better urban environment. The administrator also said the city corporation is currently conducting a 12 day-long survey on the Dengue situation and plan to launch a crash program on dengue prevention based on the survey results.

Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman left Dhaka on Saturday on a nine-day official visit to Australia and the United States. During the first leg of his visit, the Army chief will attend the Chief of Army Symposium and Land Forces International Defence Exposition 2026 in Perth, Australia, according to a release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate on Sunday. He will also visit Deakin University in Melbourne. General Waker will later travel to Washington, DC, to attend the Association of the US Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition. During the visit, the Army chief is scheduled to pay courtesy calls on and exchange views with senior defence officials and other key personnel of the two countries. He will also visit various military installations during the tour, according to the release.

The Armed Police Battalion (APBn) detained seven people during three separate operations at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday. The law enforcers also seized around 781.3 grams (about 67 bhori) of gold jewellery, 10 mobile phones, two laptops and three cartons of cigarettes, said Mohammad Nazir Ahmed Khan, Superintendent of Police (Operations) of the Airport (13) Armed Police Battalion, In the first operation, APBn personnel conducting a covert operation near the northern side of the airport's roundabout noticed a group of people attempting to flee after sensing the presence of law enforcement. They subsequently detained five people. After taking them to the Airport APBn office and conducting body searches, officers recovered 484.2 grams of gold jewellery, two laptops, eight mobile phones and three cartons of cigarettes from their possession. The detainees were identified as Tofazzal Hossain, 37, Jasim Uddin, 39, Arafat Hossain, 28, Arif, 42, and Md Alamin Gazi, 37. In the second operation, a woman was detained after she was spotted loitering suspiciously on the paved road near Canopy No. 2 in the airport's arrival area. After taking 39-year-old Rupban Begum to the Airport APBn office, officers conducted an interrogation and body search and recovered 98.7 grams of gold jewellery and a mobile phone from her possession. In the third operation, M A Matin, 30, was detained after he was spotted loitering suspiciously on the paved road west of the roundabout at the airport's main entrance. A body search following interrogation led to the recovery of 198.4 grams of gold jewellery and a mobile phone from his possession. During interrogation, the detainees reportedly said the recovered gold jewellery had been brought into Bangladesh from various countries by unidentified passengers for smuggling. The detainees had allegedly been involved with airport-based gold-smuggling syndicates as receivers for a long time. Three separate cases have been filed against the detainees with Airport Police Station. Mohammad Nazir Ahmed Khan said Airport APBn continues to play an active role in preventing smuggling and curbing other crimes within the airport area. “We are firmly committed to preventing all forms of illegal activities, including the smuggling of gold and narcotics. Our operations and intelligence activities to prevent smuggling through the airport will continue,” he said.

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) is working to ensure hawker-free footpaths for safe and hassle-free movement of its residents and provide a clean and dengue-free city, said DNCC Administrator Md Safiqul Islam Khan. He made the remarks while inaugurating a dengue mosquito larvae destruction and weekly cleanliness campaign at Manik Mia Avenue in front of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on Saturday. Volunteers from the Red Crescent and BD Clean, along with residents of Tejgaon, Mohammadpur, Indira Road and Rajabazar, also participated in the programme. The DNCC administrator said the corporation has been conducting the special cleanliness and awareness campaign every Saturday for the past three months. He said DNCC health officials and magistrates are conducting drives at government buildings, residential premises and abandoned places to identify and destroy Aedes mosquito larvae. He urged city residents to keep their homes and business establishments clean.  

Footpaths around Hope Market at Mirpur-10 are now largely free of hawkers and makeshift shops following an eviction drive, allowing pedestrians to walk more comfortably along the main roads of the area.  

Toufique Imrose Khalidi, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of bdnews24.com and a pioneer of digital journalism in Bangladesh, passed away at a hospital in London on Friday. He was 59.  Khalidi suffered a brain haemorrhage while on a personal visit to London and was admitted to St Bartholomew's Hospital on Thursday night. Doctors pronounced him dead at 2:23pm local time on Friday, according to the news portal. Born on June 14, 1967, Khalidi earned his master's degree in English Literature from Dhaka University before embarking on a career in journalism in 1989 with The Sunday Express. Over a career spanning more than three decades, Khalidi held key positions across national and international media. He worked at the BBC World Service in London from February 2000 to June 2005. Prior to that, he served at The Daily Star as Joint News Editor and Weekend Edition News Editor (1998–2000), Business Editor (1997–1998), and Diplomatic Correspondent (1991–1993), as well as Assistant Editor and Senior Correspondent at The Financial Express. In the first half of 2005, Khalidi associated with bdnews24.com, pioneering Bangladesh's first internet-based 24/7 news service. Internationally recognized, Khalidi received fellowships from the Journalists in Europe Foundation in Paris and the Japan Foreign Press Centre. In 2014, he was named one of the "14 leading digital media innovators" across Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and West Asia at the South-to-South Media Dialogue in South Africa. Khalidi chaired a UNESCO World Press Freedom Day event in 2016, attended the 2009 UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen as an observer, participated in the Global Media Forum in Bonn (2010, 2016, 2017, 2019), and spoke as a panelist at Harvard University’s "Bangladesh Rising" conference in 2018. He also played a vital role in national policy formulation, serving on national committees for online media policy (2012, 2015), the news agency policy committee (2008), and the national task force for Dhaka river protection (2007). In December 2017, the Bangladesh government conferred a special award on him on National ICT Day. Veteran journalist Sabir Mustafa, in a tribute, described Khalidi as a “brilliant journalist” with a strong ability to develop sources, recalling their professional association at The Daily Star and The Financial Express in Dhaka in the early and mid-1990s, and later at BBC Bangla in London. He recalled Khalidi’s contribution to journalism, saying he took over bdnews24.com two decades ago and transformed it into what he described as “the country’s top news portal.” Mustafa said he met Khalidi again at his home near Banani in August this year after many years, unaware that it would be their final meeting. “I met up with him after many years in August this year at his home near Banani, not knowing that would be our last meeting,” he said.

Detectives from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP)  arrested Major (retd) Akhtaruzzaman, a former lawmaker and leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, from his Cantonment residence in the capital on Friday evening. DMP's Additional Commissioner (DB) Shafikul Islam confirmed his arrest. Based on specific intelligence, a DB team conducted a drive at around 6:15 pm and arrested him, the DB chief said. The arrest follows a case filed against Akhtaruzzaman at Airport Police Station on Friday under several sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure by Dhaka Airport Security Officer Md Shahriar Alam Sajib on charges of obstructing government duties, creating disorder at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, and physically assaulting a security official. According to the First Information Report (FIR), the incident occurred around 10:40 a.m. on Thursday when passengers arriving on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight (BG-338) from Madina faced a shortage of trolleys and baggage collection delays at Belt No. 8 amid heavy passenger pressure. As frustration and tension among passengers escalated, Airport Executive Director Group Captain SM Ragib Samad went to the spot to bring the situation under control following a request from Dhaka-5 MP Mohammad Kamal Hossain. The FIR said while Ragib Samad attempted to calm the situation, Akhtaruzzaman-who was expelled from the BNP multiple times before joining Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami in December 2025-allegedly approached him aggressively, verbally abused him, and threatened to beat him and throw him out of the airport by the neck.  He also allegedly made offensive remarks regarding the Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister. The situation worsened when protocol assistants accompanying Akhtaruzzaman began recording videos on mobile phones within the airport’s restricted Key Point Installation (KPI) area. When Security Supervisor Warrant Officer Mohammad Kamal Uddin asked them to stop recording, Akhtaruzzaman allegedly verbally abused and physically assaulted him. The FIR further alleged that Akhtaruzzaman threw bottles of holy Zamzam water collected by other passengers from their trolleys, causing damage, and exhibited aggressive behavior toward a representative of Biman Bangladesh Airlines. Police said they will collect CCTV footage, statements from eyewitnesses, and other evidence as part of the investigation and take legal action based on their findings.

Police arrested a man while fleeing after exploding two crude bombs opposite the office of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Investigation Agency in the city’s Dhanmondi area early Wednesday. The arrestee was identified as Rezaul Islam, 23. According to Dhanmondi Model Police Station sources, the explosions occurred on Road 11/A at around 12:26am. Police personnel chased and apprehended Rezaul as he attempted to escape immediately after the blasts. During initial interrogation, Rezaul revealed that an unidentified individual met him at a tea stall in the New Market area about 10 to 12 days ago and offered him Tk 50,000 to detonate crude bombs in front of the office of the ICT Investigation Agency. According to police, Rezaul surveyed the site on September 28 and later returned there early Wednesday and exploded two crude bombs before attempting to flee through an alley. No casualties were reported in the blast, and police recovered remnants of the exploded crude bombs from the scene. Deputy Commissioner (Media) of DMP Akhter Hossain said legal proceedings against the arrestee are currently underway.

Gas supply to residential and commercial consumers in several areas of Dhaka will remain suspended for six hours on Thursday (Oct 1) to facilitate work to replace an existing gas distribution line. According to Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, the supply will remain suspended from 2pm to 8pm in Smritidhara, Japanese Bazar, Madinabag, Donia and Rayerbag areas. Gas pressure may also remain low in adjoining areas during the period, said the gas utility in a notice issued for consumers and other concerned parties. Titas Gas authorities expressed regret for the temporary inconvenience caused to consumers.