Three detained as Meherpur Jamaat chief’s car yields weapons

Police have detained three Jamaat-e-Islami workers with Chinese axes and locally made weapons after a joint force stopped and searched a microbus used by the party’s Meherpur district chief Tajuddin Khan.

The vehicle was intercepted on Monday morning at a checkpoint set up at the Hotel Bazar four-road junction in Meherpur town, Sub-Inspector BM Rana of the local police unit said.

He said the men were travelling to a rally at the town’s High School ground to mark the arrival of Jamaat-e-Islami’s deputy chief Shafiqur Rahman in Meherpur.

Those detained were identified as Selim Reza, 27, a district correspondent for Bangla Edition and a Jamaat worker; Shaharul Islam, the administrator of Tajuddin’s Facebook page; and the driver, Izarul Haque, police said.

SI Rana said all vehicles were being checked as part of the joint force’s routine checkpoint when a white Noah microbus was searched. Officers recovered:

•    Three foldable double sticks

•    A foreign-made axe

•    An electric shocker

•    A pair of pliers

•    Three walkie-talkies

•    Four chargers

•    A hand microphone

He added, in the presence of an executive magistrate, the three occupants, the weapons, and the microbus were seized and the men taken into custody.