Published : 20 Sep 2026, 02:29 PM
Updated : 20 Sep 2026, 02:29 PM
Detectives have arrested four people, including an Awami League leader, over a series of crude bomb blasts outside Jatrabari Police Station in Dhaka earlier this week.
The Detective Branch said four undetonated improvised explosives were also recovered from a building in Lalbagh and later defused by Dhaka Metropolitan Police's bomb disposal team.
The arrestees have been identified as Md Rayhan Uddin, 35, Russell Khan, 32, Ala Uddin, 28, and Md Abdullah, 28.
DB's Wari Division Deputy Commissioner Molla Md Shaheen disclosed the arrests at a briefing at the DMP Media Centre on Minto Road around 12:15pm on Sunday.
He said several crude bombs exploded in front of Jatrabari Police Station on the night of Sept 18. After analysing CCTV footage and identifying one suspect, DB arrested Rayhan in a raid in Bangshal on Saturday.
Based on information obtained from him, DB later raided the ground-floor parking area of a 10-storey building on Zain Saha Road in Lalbagh around 12:15am on Sunday.
Four undetonated crude bombs wrapped in red tape were found beside a pillar among a sack of brick chips, the DB officer said. The DMP's bomb disposal team later defused them.
Acting on information obtained from Rayhan, DB subsequently arrested Russell, Ala Uddin and Abdullah in an operation in the Dogair area of Demra, he said.
Asked about the suspects’ political affiliation, Shaheen said Rayhan is the office secretary of the sixth unit of Ward 32, part of the Bangshal Thana unit of the Awami League in Dhaka South. The party’s activities are banned.
Rayhan was previously arrested in an anti-terrorism case filed with Motijheel Police Station and spent five months in jail before being released on bail recently, the DB officer said.
He alleged that Rayhan had again become involved in “criminal activities” after his release.
The other three suspects, as well as Rayhan, are active members of the Awami League, according to the DB officer.
Asked about their motives, Shaheen said the suspects were carrying out such attacks to create fear among the public and for political purposes.
“Similar incidents have taken place in different parts of Dhaka over the past two or three days. The Jatrabari incident was part of that,” he said.
The DB plans to seek remand to question the four suspects about who else was involved and why the incidents were carried out, Shaheen said.
Asked whether Rayhan had been in contact with fugitive Awami League leaders, he said, “Yes, there are communications on their mobile phones. We are analysing them. More details will be known after they are taken on remand.”
Several crude bombs exploded in front of Jatrabari Police Station around 8pm on Sept 18, injuring an auto-rickshaw driver.
A case was filed with Jatrabari Police Station over the incident.
