N'Ganj Arms Haul: It all started with a chance discovery

Over three months ago, Hridoy, an alleged drug addict, found a travel bag while fishing in a canal near Sector-5 of Purbachal Residential Area in Narayanganj. Much to his astonishment, he discovered eight submachine guns (SMGs) in the bag.

He told his friends -- Shaheen, Russel and Shanto -- about the matter and kept the arms.

Over a month later, Shaheen took a gun from Hridoy and went to the house of a local drug peddler, Sharif Mia, in Rupganj. There, he gave it to Sharif and took 200 yaba tablets from him, saying he would return soon and pay him the money and collect the firearm.

Acting on a tip-off, police, however, found the weapon in the house and arrested Sharif on May 29. Shaheen, Russel and Shanto were arrested later.

Based on information gleaned from them, the law enforcers scoured the canal on Friday and recovered a huge cache of firearms and ammunition, including two RPG launchers, 61 Chinese SMGs, 58 anti-tank propellants, 44 magazines of SMGs, a huge amount of bomb-making materials and bullets, said a top official of Narayanganj police, who is investigating the incident.

Hridoy is believed to have fled the country.

Contacted, Dhaka Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Shafiqul Islam told The Daily Star that the four arrestees, during primary interrogation, said that the eight SMGs were found in the canal.

Action would be taken against them under the arms act, said the DIG.

Asked, he said it seemed the recovered arms and ammunition had slight similarities with those found in the Chittagong 10-truck arms haul incident.

“But we are not sure. We need to be sure about it.”

He said they were investigating the incident, taking several issues, including militancy, into consideration.

However, an official working with an anti-militancy unit, requesting anonymity, said they were suspecting that the arms might belong to an Indian separatist group, which once used Bangladesh territory as its hideout.

Meanwhile, based on information gleaned from the four arrestees, five more SMGs were recovered from the Shitalakhya river yesterday, said Mamunur Rashid, deputy director, fire service and civil defense of Narayanganj.

Police claimed that some of the arrestees threw the weapons there sometime before their arrest.

 A case was being filed with Rupganj Police Station, said its OC Islamil Hossain.

Proloy Kumar Joarder, deputy commissioner of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, declared an end to the drive on the canal around 5.00pm. No more arms were found yesterday.

CTTC officials had earlier said the recovered arms and ammunition looked quite similar to those recovered from Diabari in the capital's Uttara on June 18 last year.

Two general diaries were filed with Turag Police Station regarding the Uttara arms recovery and the CTTC unit is now investigating the matter.