Detained Noakhali Jubo Dal leader dies in ‘shootout’

A Noakhali Jubo Dal leader detained by law enforcers has been killed in a ‘shootout’.

Police say the suspect, Md Alam, is a ‘listed criminal’. Alam was accompanying police on a weapons raid early Thursday. He was killed in the firefight that followed.

The victim was the senior convener of the Begumganj Upazila Alaiyarpur Union Jubo Dal, said Noakhali District Jubo Dal Secretary General Kamakkha Chandra Das.

Warrants had been issued for Alam’s arrest in 10 cases, including charges of robbery and illegal weapons possession, said Begumganj Model Police Station OC Sajedur Rahman Sajid.

Police detained Alam from his home on Wednesday, he said. A police team then took him on the weapons raid in Amanullahpur Union’s East Jainarayanpur village.

Alam’s accomplices opened fire on the police team in a bid to snatch him, Sajid said. “Police returned fire. At one point Alam fled. His body was later recovered from the scene of the firefight.”

A pistol, a pipegun and various other materials used for robbery were recovered from the scene, said police.

However, according to Alam’s family, he was taken from his home early Tuesday.

A group of plainclothes ‘law enforcers’ took Alam from his home, claimed Alam’s wife Pushpa Begum at a press conference on Tuesday evening.

“We tried to contact the Begumganj Model Police Station, the Lakshmipur and Noakhali district detective police, the Lakshmipur RAB camp, but received no response.”