KNF uniforms seizure: Ctg garment factory owner placed on five-day remand

A Chattogram court on Sunday placed Motiur Rahman, owner of a garment factory, on a five-day police remand in connection with the seizure of thousands of suspected uniforms intended for the armed separatist group Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF). 

Metropolitan Magistrate Ibrahim Khalil issued the remand order after a hearing earlier today.

Motiur Rahman owns Noor Fashion and Garments, located on DT Road in the city's Pahartali area. 

Police had initially sought a ten -day remand under the Anti-Terrorism Act, but the court approved a five-day remand instead, said Additional Deputy Commissioner (Prosecution) of Chattogram Metropolitan Police Mofiz Uddin.

The arrest followed a police raid on the garment factory on 27 May, during which approximately 15,000 uniforms were recovered. 

A case was later filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act by Sub-Inspector Ariful Islam of Bayezid Police Station, naming the seized items as KNF uniforms. 

According to the complaint, the uniforms were ordered under a Tk5 million contract by a man identified as Mohalasin Marma.

Earlier on 18 May, police seized 20,300 sets of similar suspicious uniforms from Ringvo Apparels in the Nayarhat area under the Bayezid Police Station. 

That particular consignment was reportedly manufactured under a contract worth around Tk20 million. 

Police also arrested Shahedul Islam, owner of another factory involved, along with Golam Azam and Niaz Haider, who are alleged to have placed the uniform orders.

On May 26, police seized another 11,785 uniforms from the same factory in the Nayarhat area.

Law enforcement officials claim that the uniforms were being produced for the KNF, an armed group active in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The investigation is ongoing, and police say they are working to identify the full extent of the operation and any additional collaborators. 

Police, however, have yet to make any official statement on this sensitive issue.