"Controllers of the illicit businesses change with the change of governments, but the illegal trades continue as the law enforcers are involved in it"

According to locals, Keblarchar has been a spot for illegal drug trading for 20 years. With the flourishing of illegal sand trading worth crores of taka in recent years, the area has become a lucrative illegal business hub. “Controllers of the illicit businesses change with the change of governments, but the illegal trades continue as the law enforcers are involved in it,” said Md Selim, a local. “Law enforcers and criminals always keep the area under their surveillance as the businesses are a major source of income for them,” said another local seeking anonymity. On yesterday's incident, villagers said police were trying to divert people's attention from the illegal drug and sand trading in the area by labelling the six students killed in a mob beating as robbers.The six were beaten to death by an angry mob at Keblar Char in the early hours of Sunday. Relatives identified them at Dhaka Medical College Hospital where they were taken for autopsy.  All the six suspected robbers killed in a mob-lynch attack at Keblar Char were students. The deceased were identified as Bangla College students Ibrahim, 24, Shanta, 24, and Polash, 26, Tejgaon Government College student Tipu Sultan, 23, and Mastermind International School and College's A–level student Shams Rahman Shammam, 22. The sixth victim, Monir Setaf, was a student of BBA at Bangladesh University of Business and Technology (BUBT). Relatives said all of the deceased were from Dar-us-Salam and Shyamoli areas. Protesting the killings, several thousand people of the neigbourhoods, took to the streets around 12:30pm and blocked traffic for about one and a half hours. On being informed, local MP Aslamul Haque went to the spot and convinced them to withdraw the blockade, saying that he had already talked to the home minister about it. "After investigation, actions will be taken against those responsible," he assured the agitated people quoting the home minister. Deputy commissioner (Mirpur zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Imtiaz Ahmed echoed the local MP. "If it's found after investigation that it was a case of murder, the culprits will be arrested," he said. The family members of the deceased, however, claim that they were killed in a planned way. Shammam's cousin Rifat told bdnews24.com that he was a meritorious and sports-loving student. "There is no question of his engaging in a robbery." Ibrahim's father Abu Taher, a fruit vendor, said, "I was providing his educational expenses with my hard-earned money. He went out on Sunday midnight to say his prayers and we received his dead body today." Earlier, police told reporters a different story. The law enforcers alleged that the deceased were preparing to commit robberies in the area. Sub-inspector of Savar Model Police Station Aminur Rahman told bdnews24.com that they arrested a seventh person, Al Amin, in this connection. The arrestee, a 22-year-old man, was being treated at Savar Health Complex, he said. Rahman said the mob attack took place when the 'suspects' were preparing to commit robberies in the area. He said they recovered a number of sharp weapons from the spot. Al-Amin, however, denied all the allegations and claimed that the weapons recovered from the scene were not theirs. He said the deceased were his close friends and they had been there to take drugs when some people suddenly swooped on them. "My friends were killed on the spot," he added. They were beaten in presence of police. Speaking to bdnews24.com, Amin said, "We're wandering in the area. Suddenly, we saw lights flashing towards us. We thought these were headlights of trucks, but it became clear when the crowd got close. They started beating us before we could realise anything." "At one stage, I requested an elderly man to set me free, but as he joined others to beat me, I then urged a police officer to save me." "I heard the police officer telling the crowd that there will be a problem if everyone is killed. He asked them to keep someone alive and I was that lucky man," he added. SI Aminur said, "Police launched another drive near the spot. They reached the spot at the last stage. We had nothing to do as the locals were very angry."

Keblarchar in Aminbazar, where six students were beaten to death by a mob yesterday, is a major drug trading spot controlled by criminals allegedly under the shelter of law enforcers.

Locals say the area is also infamous for illegal sand trading run by criminal gangs in collaboration with some members of law enforcers and unscrupulous people in the area.

In March 2007, two Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel were killed by members of a gang named Gangchil Bahini in Aminbazar, just outside the capital. The incident happened when a Rab team raided a drug den.

Following the incident, 13 members of the group were killed in “shootouts” with Rab in the last four years.

Contacted, Dhaka district Superintendent of Police Mizanur Rahman said, “Sand trading in the area is run openly by a large number of people.”

He, however, denied that there is any open trade of illegal drugs in the area and sheltering of the illicit trade for money.

Keblarchar is known as a hot spot for drug trade.

On Keblarchar shoal in Aminbazar lie clothes and a sandal of the students killed in a mob beating there on the night of Shab-e-Barat. Saifuddin Md Aminur Rahim, left, father of one of the victims Shamam, waits for his only son's body at DMC morgue yesterday.Photo: Palash KhanSix students were bludgeoned to death by a mob of several hundred villagers in Aminbazar on the outskirts of the capital on Shab-e-Barat early yesterday.

The reason behind the attack, which also left another person injured, remains unclear. 

Al Amin, the lone survivor who suffered injuries all over his body, said they went to Keblarchar in Bardeshi village of Aminbazar to smoke cannabis.

Of the six, Towhidur Rahman Palash, Kamruzzaman Kanto and Ibrahim Khalil were students of Bangla College, Shams Rahim Shamam of Maple Leaf International School, Tipu Sultan of Tejgaon College and Sitaf Jabi Munif was of Bangladesh University of Business and Technology.

The bodies were sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue by Savar police in the morning and handed over to families in the afternoon following autopsies.

Morgue sources said the six were battered to death and two of the bodies bore marks of injuries from sharp weapons.

Aged between 16 and 22, they hailed from Darussalam, Kalyanpur and Shyamoli, a few kilometres off Aminbazar.

Families claimed the seven had no criminal records.

Protesting the killings, several hundred locals of Darussalam blocked the road from Kalyanpur to Technical Intersection for one and a half hours from 12:30pm yesterday and vandalised two buses.

Al Amin, 18, a sales representative of a juice company, said he along with his six friends went to Aminbazar firstly by a rickshaw-van and then to Keblarchar on foot.

"We were walking along the riverbank at Keblarchar around 1:30am. All of a sudden, we saw a group of people come towards us with torches in their hands," he told reporters at Savar Thana Health Complex where he took treatment.

The people, without saying a word, started beating them shouting “dacoit, dacoit”.

While the mob was battering the seven, an elderly person asked all not to beat Al Amin, he said when his father Khabir Bepari met him at the health complex.

Al Amin was being interrogated by Savar police yesterday.

Following an alarming rise in robbery and snatching, locals formed teams to patrol the area, carrying sticks and sharp weapons.

In the last one month, five robberies took place in the village while criminals frequently forced sand traders in the region to pay extortion, locals said.

"We saw a trawler with several people come to the sand-filled place around 1:30pm [yesterday]. Suspecting them robbers, we instantly passed the information to other teams over mobile phones," said a middle-aged man, who is a member of one of the teams.

On instructions of local leaders, they allowed the gang to enter deep into the village and announced over loudspeakers of mosques that the robbers had intruded, he said, preferring anonymity.

This prompted the villagers, many of who were on prayers of Shab-e-Barat, to attack the youths.

The man also said the number of robbers was 16 to 17 and the all but the seven managed to flee in the trawler in the direction they had come.

Under mob assault, the youths kept saying that they were students and residents of Darussalam area, said several other villagers, who were on patrol that night.

The group requested all to check their identities but the mob could not be restrained.

On information, police reached the spot and managed to rescue only Al Amin.

"Receiving a wireless message, we rushed to the spot and saw around 500 to 600 locals beating the youths. When I dispersed the mob, I found the six already dead," said Sub-Inspector Hares Shikder.

Police found four machetes beside the bodies, said Mahbubur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Savar Police Station.

Two cases--one by a local sand trader Abdul Malek and the other by police--were filed in connection with the incident.

Malek in his case statement said those killed in the mob beating were robbers and four of them extorted Tk 5 thousand from him earlier that night.

Sub-Inspector Anwar Hossain of the police station filed a murder case accusing five to six hundred unidentified villagers of the killings.

Savar police said nobody was arrested any of the accused as of today 1:00am.

SHARE Courtesy: BD News 24.com, The daily star