Police have arrested three terrorists involved in a shooting at the house of businessman Mostafizur Rahman Chowdhury, chairman of Smart Group, in Chandanpura, Chattogram. Police recovered an SMG (sub-machine gun), a pistol, a revolver, and bullets from them. The pistol and revolver were previously looted from local police stations, officials said.
Additional Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, Wahidul Haque Chowdhury, gave details at a press conference at the city police office on Tuesday around 10:30 pm.
The arrested terrorists are Abdul Qayyum Chowdhury alias Emon, Mohammad Monir, and Mohammad Sayem.
Chowdhury said, “The terrorists opened fire on the businessman’s house on February 28 after failing to receive a ransom of one crore taka. They were arrested during separate raids across the city on Tuesday. In initial interrogations, they admitted to using the recovered weapons in the attack. Ballistic tests will confirm this.”
He added that the terrorists obtained the weapons from a hill terrorist group. “The pistol and revolver were looted from the Double Mooring and Pahartali police stations on August 5, 2024. The SMG was bought from a hill terrorist group in Khagrachhari,” he said.
Based on secret intelligence, the Chawkbazar police arrested Abdul Qayyum Chowdhury. Police later recovered a three-two bore revolver and nine bullets from Chawkbazar, looted from Pahartali police station. Abdul Qayyum is a fugitive sentenced to life in connection with eight sensational murders in Bahaddarhat in 2000 and is associated with the top terrorist Bara Sajjad group.
Following his information, Panchlaish police arrested Monir and recovered a Brazilian Taurus 9mm pistol and a motorcycle. The pistol was looted from Double Mooring police station. Monir and Sayem each face 10 cases under the Arms Act, including charges of murder, robbery, and extortion. Sayem was arrested from the Bayezid Bostami police station area. Police later recovered an SMG, two magazines, and 50 bullets from the Khulshi police station area based on his evidence.
Chowdhury said, “All three are active members of the Bara Sajjad terrorist group. They carried out murders, robberies, extortion, and armed control of Balumahal under Sajjad’s orders. A video of the oath-taking of new members of the group was also recovered from Abdul Qayyum.”
