Constable among 6 arrested for selling looted police firearm

Chattogram police have arrested a constable and five accomplices involved in the illegal sale of a firearm looted from a police station in the city on August 5, the day of the fall of the Awami League government. The arrests were made in the Patenga and Bakolia areas of the city on Thursday.

The arrested individuals are Constable Md Riyad, along with his accomplices Abdul Gani, Abu Bakkar, Farhad Hossain, Mostafizur Rahman, and Md Ishak. Police recovered a foreign-made pistol and seven rounds of bullets from them. Riyad, who was stationed at the Chandpur district police, is from Satkania in Chattogram. Following the arrest, he was temporarily suspended from service. On Friday, the accused were presented before the court.

Among the arrested, Abdul Gani and Farhad Hossain were granted a three-day remand by Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate Abu Bakkar Siddique. Constable Riyad, Abu Bakkar, and Mostafizur Rahman confessed to their involvement in the sale of the firearm looted from the police station, according to their statements to the court. As for Ishak, who did not provide a confession, the court ordered him to be sent to jail.

Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) Additional Deputy Commissioner (Prosecution) Mofiz Uddin stated that the six arrested individuals were presented in court by the Patenga Model Police. Three of them gave confessional statements under Section 164, while two others were granted a three-day remand by the court.

Patenga Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge (OC) Shafiqul Islam said that a raid was carried out on Friday, resulting in the arrest of Riyad and the other five individuals. One of them was found with a firearm. Preliminary investigations have confirmed that the recovered firearm belonged to the police and was looted from the Lohagara police station in Chattogram last August.