'Crossfire' kills 18 in Kushtia in 6 months

At present, panic of 'crossfire' gripped the criminals following killing of a top outlawed leader of Biplobi Communist Party (BCP), Mokbul Hossain alias Mafiz on November 30. Kushtia police caught him when he came to surrender in court. He was killed in 'crossfire' that night. He was an accused in 40 cases including 11 murder cases.

Meanwhile, 30 arrested 'top criminals' in the district now prefer jail to stay outside. They asked their lawyers to abstain from making any move for bail.

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Lawyers told this correspondent, relatives told them not to move any bail petition, according to detained criminals' direction.

'They (criminals and their relatives) were requesting us, even a few days back, to move bail petition for release', told a senior lawyer in Kushtia court, preferring anonymity.

According to Kushtia police, 27 out of 30 criminals detained in Kushtia jail are 'listed criminals' and accused in at least seven to 20 different cases including murders. Seven of them are heads of different 'Bahinis'. They possessed many firearms which were not recovered during their arrest, according to police.

According to jail sources, 19 criminals were arrested in connection with arms cases, 23 in murder cases and 31 in both murder and arms cases.

Sources close to criminals told The Daily Star they came to know that the law enforcers had a plan to eliminate infamous criminals.

Sources in police told this correspondent on condition of anonymity, despite so many cases against them, criminals usually bail out from captivity. It is better to kill them than to give them more opportunities to kill people, they added.