No casualty was reported in the incident.

Ansars held Rokibul Islam Rony, member of infamous muggers' gang known as 'Shamim Group' in the area, with the pistol loaded with two-rounds of bullets at 8:30am beside the gardeners' quarters on the west side of the compound.

"Acing on tip-off, we encountered the muggers, who entered the compound through the main entrance, and challenged them. As we started searching two of them, Rony fired three times at me and at Post Commander Sirajul Islam and started running," said Ruhul Amin, assistant post commander of Ansar camp on the compound.

The Ansars, however, managed to catch Rony who was handed over to Rapid Action Battalion (Rab)-11 at 9:30am while the other three, including the gang-leader Shamim, managed to escape.

Later, upon the confessions of Rony, Rab arrested Belal Hossain from Niribili area adjacent to the memorial at 10:30am.

Belal, whom Rab claimed to be organiser of criminal activities in the area, denied having any link with the muggers.

Due to inadequate number of security personnel to look after the huge compound of 108 acres and weak boundary wall, incidents of muggings by several gangs of muggers have become regular phenomena.

As visitors often fell victims to muggings on the compound, the number of visitors has reduced significantly over the years while drug addicts, transport workers, hawkers, and local miscreants have made it a venue for meeting, masterminding attacks and resting ground for them.

"We have only ten unarmed Ansars and three policemen to maintain security on the huge compound," said Md Delwar Hossain, sub-assistant engineer and acting caretaker of National Memorial.