The Detective Branch in separate raids on areas of the capital Dhaka arrested 11 people and seized two firearms and 5,500 sedative pills on Friday night.
The detained are Farid Hossain, Abdul Hamid, Md Rabbi, Abdul Haque, Md Anis Khan, Seydul Molla, Babu Kazi, Khalilur Rahman, Arif Hossain, Nasir Uddin and Mizanur Rahman.
They are members of a drugging gang, said Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, at a briefing on Saturday.
Monirul said that a Detective Branch team, led by additional deputy commissioner Mashiur Rahman, raided a bus near Dholaipar at Bangshal around 8:30pm and arrested seven members of a drugging gang. The gang leader Farid Hossain was also arrested.
The police also raided several pharmacies at Fakirapool and Dholaikhal that illegally traded in sedative tablets and arrested three people in possession of 5,500 pills, the police official said.
The police also seized medicines, ointment and some others items
used for drugging people from the arrested, Monirul said. He said that the gang was actively prowling the city especially before Eid-ul-Fitr.
He said that the gang members usually get on buses headed for Dhaka from different in the guise of hawkers and passengers and drug people by giving them food and biscuit mixed with sedative and rob them.
Monirul said that Farid Hossain had began his career as an egg vendor in 2005. He then started drugging people with eggs mixed with narcotic substances and later formed the gang.
He said that there are at least four to five drugging gangs that prowl the city at the time of Eid and other festivals.
The team also arrested an arms dealer, Khalilur Rahman, in possession of a pistol and 20 bullets at Paltan about 10:30pm.
-With New Age input
