Two of the arrestees, Lutfor Rahman alias L Rahman, unit president of BNP Dhaka Metropolitan Ward 39, and Nabi Solaiman, religious affairs secretary of BNP's youth wing, are infamous godfathers and successors to notorious criminal Pichchi Hannan, sources said.

Tejgaon police arrested Solaiman from his house at 82/4, East Tejturi Bazar at about 1:30am and a team of Detective Branch (DB) of police nabbed Rahman from near his Nakhal Para house at around 8:30am.

Police sources and traders at Karwan Bazar, the city's largest kitchen market and a wholesale trading hub, said the two crooks have for long been abusing their political positions for racketeering.

Once close allies of Pichchi Hannan, they took over the mafia gang controlling the market after Hannan had been killed in a 'crossfire' during an operation of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on August 6 last year.

"Their involvement in extortion is an open secret, but no-one dared to file any case against them," said the officer-in-charge of Tejgaon Police Station. Apart from a number of general diaries against them, he said, Rahman and Solaiman are accused in two extortion cases lodged with the police station in August and November last year.

The two other arrestees, Wahid Mollah and Suraj Mian alias Bhagina Suraj, were nabbed by the DB police at the market yesterday morning.

A lieutenant of Rahman, Mollah was in charge of the extortion racket in the market's Janata Tower area, traders said.

Tejgaon police produced Rahman and Solaiman before the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka with separate forwarding reports in connection with the extortion cases.

In the forwarding reports, the police said the arrestees are extortionists and identified terrorists, and no-one dares to file any case against them fearing reprisal.

They have created a reign of terror and extortion in the area, the police noted and proposed their detention under the Special Powers Act to restrain them from continuing with the criminal activities.

The BNP and Jubo Dal leaders were later sent to Dhaka Central Jail. However, it could not be known how many days they were detained for.

Seeking anonymity a Karwan Bazar source hinted that disagreement with BNP bigwigs over share of the extorted money might have led to the arrests. "They could also be arrested because of a dispute over dealings with high ups at the administration," he added.

Stretching from Tejgaon Railway Station to Bangladesh Film Development Corporation gate, Karwan Bazar houses over 22 markets and 10,000 businesses. Of them, only a half or 11 markets -- eight owned by Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), two by private houses and one by Bangladesh Railways are legal. The rest include four fish markets on Railway land adjacent to Hotel Sonargaon, one on the DCC children's park, three on public footpaths and four squatting on commercial plots.

Mafiosi collect a few lakh taka a day in tolls from these markets. A big amount of hush money also goes to dishonest government officials to make them willing to avoid creating trouble for the illegal markets.