Swecchasebak League leader held with arms

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested a Swecchasebak League leader and three others with firearms, ammunition and yaba from Mirjajangal area in Sylhet city on Wednesday night.

The arrestees are -- Piyush Kanti Dey, Bappa Paul, Monti Roy and Mohammad Rayhan. Piyush is the vice president of Sylhet district unit of Swecchasebak League, an associate organisation of the ruling Awami League.

Acting on a tip-off, Rab conducted the drive at a house in Mirjajangal area around 11:30pm and arrested four persons with firearms and yaba, said Md Moniruzzaman, additional superintendent of police and media director of Rab-9.

The den was being used by Piyush to meet with his associates, he added.

From the den, Rab recovered a revolver, two-round bullets, three sharp weapons and 5,540 pieces yaba, Moniruzzaman said.

“Piyush is accused in a number of cases including mugging, kidnap and arms, and was on the run for a long time,” he added.

Rab handed the arrestees to Kotwali Police Station yesterday, and two more cases -- one under arms act and another under narcotics control act -- were filed against the arrestees, said Selim Miah, officer-in-charge of the police station.

Later in the day, the arrestees were produced before Sylhet Metropolitan Magistrate Jihadur Rahman’s Court and the court ordered to send them to jail, said Amulya Kumar Chowdhury, assistant commissioner (prosecution) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police.

Earlier on January 22, Piyush was arrested by police in a ransom case, but he came out of jail on bail a couple of weeks later.

There are 16 cases filed against Piyush with different police stations in the city, according to police and Rab sources.

The latest of them was filed on August 7, over an attack on three expatriates in Zindabazar area of the city.