52 arrested 'KNF members' sent to jail
Senior Magistrate Nazmul Hossain Amli of the Chattogram Chief Judicial Magistrate Court passed the order after the arrestees were presented in the court on Tuesday (9 April) afternoon, said Court Police Inspector AK Fazlul Haque.
A Chattogram court today (9 April) sent 52 arrested individuals, suspected to be members of the armed hill group Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF), to jail in a case filed over robbing banks, looting firearms, and kidnapping of a bank manager in Bandarban recently.
Senior Magistrate Nazmul Hossain Amli of the Chattogram Chief Judicial Magistrate Court passed the order after the arrestees were presented in the court on Tuesday (9 April) afternoon, said Court Police Inspector AK Fazlul Haque.
Earlier on Monday (8 April), two other alleged KNF members were sent to jail.
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Lawyer Mohtul Hossain Jonto, representing the accused in the case, told reporters that the court police presented the defendants in two cases filed over bank robberies and other crimes in Ruma and Thanchi of Bandarban recently.
"As there was no plea from the accused, the court ordered them to be sent directly to the jail for trial," he said.
"I will apply for their bail after Eid-ul-Fitr. Then there will be a bail hearing," he added.
When asked whether the arrested accused have been termed as members of KNF, the defence lawyer said they have been sent in the case of bank robbery in Ruma and Thanchi.
Details can be known once the documents are reviewed after Eid. However, he stated that the arrested people are all from the Bawm community, an ethnic community inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.
Members of the Bangladesh Army and the Bangladesh Police in Bandarban detained 53 alleged KNF members in two separate operations on Monday (1 April) .
One of them, a pregnant woman, was later released.
Last Tuesday and Wednesday, a group of armed men attacked three branches of Bangladesh Krisi Bank and Sonali Bank in Ruma and Thanchi upazilas of Bandarban within a span of 16 hours.
A manager of Sonali Bank's Ruma branch was kidnapped and over Tk17.5 lakh was stolen from two bank branches in Thanchi. They also looted firearms from security officers of the banks. The robbers are suspected to be members of KNF.
The kidnapped manager was released by KNF after a hefty ransom was paid.
Later, the Bangladesh Army, the Rapid Action Battalion, the Bangladesh Police and the Bangladesh Border Guard launched a joint operation to eliminate the KNF from Bandarban on Sunday.
