United News of Bangladesh

The operations of all modes of transport have remained suspended since Sunday morning as an indefinite road blockade continues in Khagrachhari district, protesting the alleged rape of a schoolgirl. Although no untoward incidents have been reported so far, security has been tightened in the district town and surrounding areas. Police, along with seven platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and army patrols, are maintaining order. The blockade follows Saturday’s clashes and protests. The situation remains tense, with residents staying indoors in fear. Business establishments, including shops across the town and suburbs, remain shut. Meanwhile, the local administration on Saturday imposed Section 144 for an indefinite period in Khagrachhari municipality, Sadar upazila, and Guimara. Section 144 enforced in Khagrachari amid blockade over schoolgirl rape Deputy Commissioner ABM Iftekharul Islam Khandakar said the restriction will remain in force until the situation improves. The unrest stems from a September 23 incident, when three youths allegedly raped an indigenous eighth-grade student in the Singinala area while she was returning home from private tuition. The victim’s father filed a case with Sadar Police Station that night against three unidentified men. Police, with the help of the army, arrested a suspect, Nayan Shil, the following morning.

The district administration has imposed an indefinite ban on gatherings under Section 144 in Khagrachari as protests and road blockades continue, demanding the arrest of those involved in the rape of a schoolgirl. According to a notification issued by District Magistrate and Deputy Commissioner ABM Iftikharul Islam Khondkar, the order took effect from 2:00pm in Sadar upazila and Khagrachari municipality and from 3:00pm in Guimara upazila and will remain in force until further notice. The notice cited a sharp deterioration in law and order in Khagrachari town and Sadar upazila, warning of risks to public life and property. Under the order, gatherings of four or more people, rallies, processions, assemblies, loudspeaker use, carrying weapons, and any provocative activities are prohibited. Violators will face legal action. Meanwhile, Jumma student groups have been enforcing dawn-to-dusk blockades demanding justice in the rape case, disrupting road links between Khagrachari and Dhaka, Chattogram and Rangamati. Internal roads remain closed as protesters set up barricades by burning tyres and felling trees. An ambulance was vandalised in Alutila during the protests, while road communications with nine upazilas, including Dighinala, Panchhari, Ramgarh and Mahalchhari, remain suspended. Clashes broke out Saturday afternoon between hill and Bengali residents in Sadar upazila, leaving several injured and triggering chaotic chases. Security has since been tightened. The incident that sparked the unrest occurred on the night of Sept 23, when an eighth-grade student was gang-raped by three Bengali youths while returning home from private tuition in Singinala, Ward-1 of Khagrachari town. Army raid in Khagrachari leaves MLP commander dead Police have arrested one accused, Shoyon Sheel, 19, while two others remain absconding. Jumma student groups earlier staged demonstrations on Sept 24 and enforced a half-day blockade on Sept 25. The ongoing blockade has left nearly 2,000 tourists stranded in Sajek and over 1,000 in Rangamati town.  

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has deployed 430 platoons across the country, including border areas and the capital, to ensure security of 2,857 puja mandaps during the Durga Puja, the largest religious festival of the Hindu community. Besides , the paramilitary force  has also  set up 24 base camps in different bordering regions. Of the 2,857 Puja mandaps under BGB’s security coverage, 1,411 are located within eight kilometers of the border and in hill tract areas, including 15 mandaps, while 1,446 mandaps are situated outside the border zones. Among those, 441 are in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur city corporation areas; 694 in Chattogram metropolitan area, Raozan and Rangunia; and 311 in other parts of the country. Festive fervor grips Shankhari Bazar ahead of Durga Puja BGB has intensified intelligence surveillance and stepped up special patrols in border areas to prevent any untoward incidents during the celebrations, said BGB headquarters public relation officer Md Shariful Islam.  The force reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding national peace, security and sovereignty while working in close coordination with local administrations and other law enforcement agencies to ensure a peaceful environment for Durga Puja festivities, he added.

The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit has arrested Iftarul Hasan Swapon, nephew of former Bhola-1 MP and veteran Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed, in connection with multiple criminal allegations. Swapan was arrested around 1:15pm on Wednesday from the Malibagh area under Shahjahanpur Police Station, said Talebur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). He is also a former chairman of Dighaldi Union in Bhola Sadar. CTTC sources said Swapan faces a long list of complaints from locals, including extortion, land grabbing, assaulting and threatening government officials, harassment of women, intimidation of journalists, and defrauding people by promising jobs.

A young man was shot in front of the registry office in Khulna city on Wednesday evening. The incident occurred around 7:10pm, said Shafiqul Islam, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Khulna Police Station. The victim was identified as Anik, son of Montu Das of Kalibari. He was rushed to a local hospital for treatment. OC Shafiqul Islam said that a heated argument broke out between two young men at around 6:50 pm. “At one point, one of them pulled out a pistol from his waist and shot the other,” the OC said. “As locals rushed to the scene, the shooter dropped the weapon and fled.” Police arrived shortly after the incident and recovered a firearm, bullets, and magazines from the scene. The shooter remains at large.

Authorities seized an illegal Bangla liquor factory hidden behind agricultural land near Rohitpur BSCIC Industrial Area in Keraniganj, Dhaka. Local youths alerted the police via the 999 emergency line on Wednesday morning and helped recover and destroy around 20-25 drums of liquor. Mominul Haque Dablu, Officer-in-Charge of Keraniganj Model Police Station, said, “The trafficker, Kamal Hossain, had been producing liquor for years, using raw materials like sugarcane juice, spoiled rice, carrots, and various chemicals. The operation was allegedly run in secret in paddy fields using makeshift furnaces.” Locals claimed Kamal’s activities were encouraging youth drug use in the area and demanded his immediate arrest and prosecution. They also alleged that the trafficker manipulated officials at the new Sonakanda police outpost and produced the illegal liquor for 8 to 10 years now. 2 killed in Keraniganj road crash Mohammad Jahangir Alam, Keraniganj Additional Superintendent of Police (Circle), said, “No liquor factory will be allowed to operate in Keraniganj. Anyone with information should inform the police, and we will take immediate action.” Later, a case was filed at Keraniganj Model Police Station in the afternoon.  

A Dhaka court dealing with food frauds issued arrest warrants on Wednesday against four people for adulterating foods, including one food item meant to be consumed by children. The court of Nusrat Sahara Bithi issued the arrest warrants against the owners of Cocola Food Products Limited, Apon Good Food, and Ispahani Foods Limited. “Arrest warrants were issued following the filing of cases on Wednesday,” said Kamrul Hasan, a food inspector at the Dhaka South City Corporation. He said that foods produced by the companies were found to be substandard in laboratory tests. The cases were filed under the Bangladesh Safe Food Act of 2013. The owner of Cocola Food Products Limited, Shukkur Mia, faces an arrest warrant for producing substandard wafer sticks intended for child consumption, which were marketed as Royal Wafer Chocolate Cream Wafer Sticks. The wafer stick tested almost twice acidic compared to the permitted limit. The sticks also contained the presence of insoluble ash in acid. Higher acidity could be indicative of a lack of freshness and compromised raw material integrity. Higher acidity could also signal bacterial presence in food. A higher presence of insoluble ash could also mean the presence of dirt or sand in the food.    Apon Good Food Limited proprietor Jahirul Islam Apon and his wife, Farzana Brishti, are facing arrest warrants for producing substandard tomato sauce. The acidity of the sauce was found to be less than the permitted level. The tomato sauce contained 1,045ppm benzoic acid, a preservative, far above the permitted level of 750ppm. Kamrul stated in the case statement that excessive presence of preservatives in food could lead to kidney diseases and cancer. Ispahani Foods Limited owner Mirza Salman Ispahani faces an arrest warrant for producing the powder drink marketed as Ispi mango instant powder drink. The powder drink contained .032 per cent ash insoluble in acid against the permitted level of .005 per cent. The presence of sulfide ash was found to be 3.09 per cent against the permissible limit of a maximum 2 per cent. The presence of excessive sulfide ash is an indication of adulteration and potential contamination with heavy metals or poor-quality ingredients, food experts say.    

Tobacco companies must not be allowed to act as stakeholders in amending the Tobacco Control Law, said Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Farida Akhter on Wednesday. Farida Akhter made the remarks while addressing a discussion organised by the Development Organisation of the Rural Poor (DORP) at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka. She said the government would never take such an anti-people step. She said tobacco industry interference has already delayed the amendment process for too long. “No further delay is acceptable.” The session opened with welcome remarks from A.H.M. Noman, DORP’s founder and chief executive while Zeba Afroza, the organization’s project coordinator, presented the keynote paper, outlining six key proposals aligned with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). These included abolishing designated smoking areas in public places and transport, banning tobacco product displays at points of sale, prohibiting corporate social responsibility activities by tobacco companies, restricting e-cigarettes to protect youth, ending loose and retail sales of tobacco products, and expanding pictorial health warnings on packaging from 50 percent to 90 percent. Speaking as special guest, Akhtaruzzaman, Director General of the National Tobacco Control Cell, rejected claims by tobacco companies that the amendments would lead to major revenue losses. “In reality, after the law was enacted in 2005 and amended in 2013, government revenue from tobacco increased 12.5 times in 18 years, even as tobacco use fell by 18 percent between 2009 and 2017. This proves reduced tobacco use does not harm government revenue,” he said. Professor Dr. Golam Mohiuddin Faruq, President of the Bangladesh Cancer Society, criticised a July 13 decision by a review committee that announced plans to invite tobacco industry representatives to stakeholder discussions. Youth advocates Ayesha Akhtar Shilpi and Niemur Rahman Emon also spoke at the event calling for the swift passage of the proposed amendments to protect public health. They demanded that the government refrain from including tobacco industry voices in the lawmaking process.

Bangladesh Bank has ordered an immediate probe into alleged credit card fraud at Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) Bangladesh, following reports of unauthorised transactions. The central bank is treating the matter with high priority through which a fraud group allegedly siphoned money from customer credit cards, sources in the banking sector said. A fraud group reportedly stole around Tk 27 lakh from 54 SCB customers in the last week of August, prompting the bank to temporarily suspend credit card transfers to MFS platforms like bKash and Nagad. Bankers in Bangladesh push for higher loan limits for homes, cars Victims reported that without their knowledge or any transaction, Tk 50,000 was transferred from their cards to bKash and Nagad accounts in each instance.  The money was then quickly withdrawn by the fraud group, and the MFS accounts were immediately closed. Bangladesh Bank officials said that the money sent to the fraudulent bKash and Nagad accounts was cashed out within minutes, and the accounts were subsequently shut down. This suggests an experienced fraud group is behind the incident. In messages sent to customers, the bank stated that the "Add Money" option to MFS apps had been temporarily suspended for security purposes. The bank also reported the matter to Bangladesh Bank and law enforcement agencies. Bangladesh Bank has already initiated an investigation. Bank merger: BB launches special payment scheme to protect depositors   Several victims took to social media to share their experiences. A customer named Hasin Haider wrote that Tk 50,000 was debited from his card and sent to a bKash account without any reason. Despite receiving an OTP on his phone, he claimed he did not share it with anyone. The transfer took only a few seconds, leading him to believe it was a security flaw on the bank's end. Another customer, Sadia Sharmin Brishti, said that after using her card for seven years, this was the first time she had been a victim of fraud, with Tk50,000 also being debited from her account. SCB officials said that after receiving multiple complaints, their local and global technology teams conducted a security review. RCBC requested to forfeit $81m over Bangladesh Bank reserve heist They, however, found no security flaws in the bank's system. They emphasized that since the transfers were made via MFS platforms, those institutions should bear responsibility for clarifying the matter.  

A Dhaka court on Wednesday placed former Food Minister Advocate Qamrul Islam on a five-day remand in a case over killing jhut trader Monir during July uprising. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sadiqur Rahman passed the order when assistant sub-inspector of Shahbagh Police Station Mainul Islam produced him before the court with a 10-day remand prayer. Additional Public Prosecutor Advocate Muhammad Samsuddoha stood for the petitioner while Advocate Aftab Mahmud Chowdhury filed a petition challenging the remand prayer for his client. Former DNCC female councillor, AL leader arrested in Gulshan Detectives arrested Quamrul Islam from Uttara-12 in Dhaka on November 18, 2024. According to the case statement, Jhut trader Md Monir was shot dead during demonstrations in  Chankharpool area on August 5 last year. Rozina Akter, wife of Monir, filed a case with Shahbagh Police Station against 351 identified and 500 unidentified people on March 14. Quamrul was the no 7 accused in the case.