RAB discovers 'torture cell' of criminals on Cox's Bazar hill, detains 4

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has detained four men with locally made sharp weapons after discovering a "torture cell" run by a gang of criminals during a raid on a hill in Cox's Bazar town.

These criminals have been using this cell for a long time to torture people — both locals and tourists — after abducting them and keeping them as hostages, according to RAB.

The raid was carried out at an abandoned home on the old Jadiram Buddhist Bihar hill in the coastal town around midnight on Monday (21 October), said Md Kamruzzaman, RAB-15 senior assistant director (legal and media) and additional SP.

He identified the detained four men as Ujjal Das, 28, Utpal Dey, 29, Bidhan Dhar, 30, and Antar Rudra, 22. All of them are from the town's Ghonarpara area.

Kamruzzaman said the criminal gang — involved in mugging and abducting both locals and tourists — has been using the abandoned home as their base of operations for a long time. After receiving tip-offs, RAB ran surveillance on this gang for a while to identify and arrest its members.

Monday night's raid was carried out after RAB received information that several members of the gang were staying in that home. When the RAB team surrounded the home, six or seven people tried to flee. Of them, four were detained, said Kamruzzaman.

Later, RAB found four sharp weapons, including knives, several sticks, rope and three stolen mobile phones during a search at the home, he added.

"During preliminary interrogation, the detainees have confessed that they have been operating in Cox's Bazar town for a long time – mugging and abducting people and securing ransoms after targeting them.

"They have been using the home on the Jadiram Buddhist Bihar hill as their base of operations, where they tortured people and managed to get ransoms," said the RAB official.

A case has been filed against the four men at Cox's Bazar Sadar Police Station, he added.