The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a total of 1,41,164 criminals for the last nine years, sources at the police headquarters said quoting a brief of the elite force prepared for the high-level delegation of the commonwealth meeting held at Sri Lanka.
Of the arrested criminals, 1087 belonged to religious outfits such as Jamaatul Mujahidin (JMB) and Hijbut Tahrir (Huji), 413 outlaws, 325 listed criminals, 7937 armed criminals, 1490 kidnappers, 46,926 illegal drug traders, 1560 smugglers, 1465 money laundries and fake note traders, 345 human traffickers and 79,616 robbers, muggers and warrantee criminals, sources added.
Besides these arrests, RAB recovered 10,766 illegal arms, 89559 rounds of bullets, 5892 bombs, 235 grenades, 7972 detonators and huge explosives and bomb-making materials.
“The anti-terrorist force mentioned that the religious extremism poses a serious concern in the country and they have threatened the constitution of the country and the lives of the civilians,” according to the brief that was sent to the police headquarters recently.
“The forces launched a countrywide operation to arrest them from the grassroots.
RAB forces collected detailed information about the religious terrorists, their hideouts and stocks of arms, ammunitions and explosives using all the intelligence information with the help of advanced technology,” the brief continued to say.
While mentioning about its controversial human rights records, RAB pointed out that the force had strongly adhered to the international human rights law and also taken special care to train the RAB members on human rights issues. “RAB resorts to use of force only as the last means of protection of public life and property and to exercise its rights of self-defense,” it said. The elite force, which was formed on March 26, 2004, pointed out that it had never been tolerant to any lapse by any of its members and followed a ‘zero tolerance’ policy. After each incident of use of force, RAB said, a series of inquiries and investigations were conducted by different organizations of the country.
-With The Independent input
