Home
+
Published : 09 Feb 2026, 05:25 PM
The Bangladesh Army has arrested three people and recovered foreign-made pistols during a raid in Dhaka’s Savar area.
Among those arrested is Galib Imtiaz Nahid, identified as the joint general secretary of the central body of the Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Swechhasebak Dal.
The Army, however, said the arrests were made on crime-related charges and not on the basis of political identity.
The other two arrestees are Nahid’s associates Rabiul Islam Babu, also known as Machine Babu, and Masud Rana Alvi, known as Shooter Masud.
Lt Col Nazim Ahmed, commander of the 23 East Bengal Regiment, disclosed the details at a press briefing held at the Bosila Camp in Dhaka on Monday afternoon.
He said that over the past 15 days, the Army had recovered five pistols -- four from different locations in Mohammadpur and one from the Jurain graveyard area in Postogola.
“After verifying information obtained from earlier recoveries, we arrested three people, including listed criminal and drug dealer Nahid, from the Chapain area of Savar on Monday morning,” he said.
During the operation, troops recovered three 7.65mm foreign pistols, four magazines, 20 rounds of ammunition, six shotgun cartridges, eight billhooks and five katanas.
The officer said another associate, identified as Swapan Sheikh, managed to flee during the raid.
Nazim said preliminary findings suggest that Nahid and Swapan were involved in selling illegal weapons in different areas.
Responding to questions about political affiliation, he said the Army had not established any involvement with any political parties so far.
“We have not arrested anyone as a member of any political party. They have been arrested as criminals,” he said.
“Those who deal in crime and trading illegal weapons cannot be identified by party labels,” he added.
He said the Army identified their location and conducted the operation using technological surveillance and information verification on Monday.
Addressing concerns about election-related violence, Nazim said operations would continue to ensure a peaceful environment ahead of the polls.
“In the last three days alone, around 21 to 22 firearms, including the three recovered today, have been seized from different parts of Dhaka,” he said.
“Our effort is to ensure that no one can create unrest around the election using illegal weapons.”
He added that further information obtained during interrogation was being kept confidential to protect ongoing and future operations.
“We will verify the intelligence and conduct the next operation accordingly,” he said.
