585 arrested on Day 15 of Operation Devil Hunt

Security forces have arrested as many as 585 people on the 15th day of the nationwide crackdown styled “Operation Devil Hunt”.

A message from Police Headquarters on Sunday said a total of 1,493 people have been apprehended from different parts of the country in the past 24 hours.

Of these, 908 people have been arrested by law-enforcing agencies based on other cases and warrants.

In the raid, one foreign pistol, one home-made LG gun, one magazine, 10 rounds of bullets, 47 rounds of bullet shells, three cartridges, one dagger and six sharp weapons were recovered.

In the past 14 days, 7,356 people have been detained across the country, bringing the total to 22,868 in the 15 days since the start of this drive.

The interim government launched the operation following an attack on the home of former Liberation War affairs minister AKM Mozammel Haque in Gazipur on Feb 7, during which several people were injured and property was damaged.

The special operation, targeting "instigators of instability", was launched by joint forces on Feb 8.

While police initially reported the arrest of 1,308 people nationwide within the operation’s first 24 hours, they did not specify how many were directly linked to Operation Devil Hunt.

Police Headquarters has been providing updates on the total arrests, including those made during Operation Devil Hunt.

In a violent turn in the wee hours of Thursday, two men, Jumman and Miraj, both identified by single names, were killed in a shootout with security forces in the Chand Udyan area of Mohammadpur.

Authorities described them as known criminals operating in the neighbourhood.