Detective Branch (DB) police in Chattogram reportedly recovered around 200 bottles of foreign liquor during a raid at the residence of Bangladesh Chhatra Dal leader Mohammad Abu Shakil Sagar in the city’s Bandar area on Wednesday evening.
The raid took place at a house in KB Dovash Lane, under Bandar police station, on 9 September. A police source told Kalbela that officers recovered approximately 200 bottles of foreign liquor during the operation. The source also claimed that two people were detained.
However, the reported detentions could not be independently confirmed by officers involved in the raid. Police have also not yet issued an official statement confirming the quantity of liquor allegedly recovered or provided a formal seizure list.
There are also conflicting accounts over whether Sagar himself was detained. Several sources claimed that he was present at the residence when the operation was conducted and was taken into custody. A member of the relevant Detective Branch unit, however, said Sagar could not be detained.
Sagar is a joint convener of Bandar thana Chhatra Dal. He is reportedly associated with Tarikul Islam Tanvir, a joint convener of Chattogram city Chhatra Dal.
Following the raid, attempts were made to obtain an official account from officers of the Detective Branch’s South Division. No immediate confirmation was available regarding the reported recovery or the alleged detentions.
A reporter later visited the Detective Branch office in Mansurabad to seek details of the operation. A police member who participated in the raid directed the reporter to the duty officer for information about the First Information Report (FIR) and other details of the case.
The duty officer, however, said no information could be provided without permission from the Deputy Commissioner of Police (South). The matter was subsequently raised with Sheikh Shariful Islam, Deputy Commissioner of Police of the DB’s South Division.
After being informed about the request for details, the deputy commissioner again referred the matter to the officers who had conducted the operation, according to the report.
A second attempt was then made to contact a police member involved in the raid. The officer said detailed information about the operation would be disclosed at a press conference on Thursday, 10 September.
Until that briefing, several questions surrounding the raid remain unanswered. The exact quantity and type of liquor allegedly recovered have not been officially disclosed. It is also unclear whether two people were actually detained, whether Sagar was among them, and whether a case has been filed in connection with the alleged recovery.
The figure of around 200 bottles therefore remains a claim attributed to a police source rather than an officially confirmed recovery figure. Likewise, the information concerning the alleged detentions has not been formally verified by the police.
Further details are expected when the Detective Branch provides its official account of the operation at the scheduled press conference.
