Coastguard joins Rab in combing for criminals
Staff Correspondent
The Bangladesh Coastguard has joined the police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) to comb the Sundarbans and the surrounding area for huge arms believed be with the armed cadres of the slain terrorist Asaduzzaman Litu.The joint drive especially aims to hunt down Rafiqul Islam alias Rafique, who reportedly owns the bigger chunk of illegal arms and ammunition left by Litu.Sundarbans and adjoining areas including Mongla and Dakop upazilas of Bagerhat and Khulna districts are central to this manhunt, sources said. Besides, police search for a 34-year-old woman was also going on. Litu, during the interrogation at Rab headquarters, named her as one of his mistresses and custodian of a substantial number of arms. She was with Litu even an hour before his arrest on Sunday, sources said. Police sources said most of Litu's henchmen had taken shelter in the Sundarbans and bordering areas of Satkhira and Jessore districts to flee the country. A senior official of DIG office, Khulna Range said borders of southwestern zone have been on alert to prevent Litu's accomplices from fleeing the country. Meanwhile, the coastguard in a swoop on Wednesday night picked up 78 people and recovered 23 cans of beer from Banishanta and Dakop upazila of Khulna. Of them, 44 had been released from Mongla Police Station.
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