BNP central office locked, security heightened after last night's raid
The central office of the BNP in Nayapaltan has been locked since morning, following a raid conducted by the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) last night.
According to police, at least seven activists of the BNP and its affiliated organisations were arrested and around 100 crude bombs, 500 sticks and five to six bottles of petrol were recovered during the night raid.
A padlock was seen hanging on the main entrance gate of the party's central office, though it is unclear who installed it.
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However, the area has been cordoned off with crime scene yellow tape by the CID.
A team of armed police has been deployed around the office premises.
Since morning, there has been no sign of BNP leaders or activists near the Nayapaltan office.
Shortly after the midnight raid, BNP's Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, in a virtual conference, accused the government of unjustly raiding the BNP office to divert attention from the quota reform movement.
He claimed the operation was part of a "master plan" devised by Detective Branch Chief Harun Or Rashid.
Rizvi alleged that cocktails were detonated in front of the central office and shots were fired before the raid, using this as a pretext to raid the head office of the country's most popular political party.
DB chief Harun, who led the raid, told journalists that the operation was conducted after a bus was set on fire in front of the Jatiya Press Club.
"A group is trying to divert the ongoing quota movement into a different direction. We have all the names and numbers of those responsible and we will arrest them soon," he said.
