Bangladesh minister Ishraque Hossain raids a suspected drug den in Dhaka with a pistol in hand, sparking debate on social media
State minister for liberation war affairs Ishraque Hossain shared a video of the raid, showing him stepping out of a vehicle with a megaphone in one hand and a pistol in the other before chasing a group of people near Gandaria Railway Station. A Bangladeshi minister triggered a debate on social media after carrying out a raid on a suspected drug den in a Dhaka slum on Saturday, armed with a pistol and accompanied by associates, at least one of whom was also seen carrying a handgun.
Hossain, a member of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was elected to Parliament from the area in the February 12 elections.
Police said the minister had not informed them about the raid beforehand. He and his associates detained six people and handed them over to the local police station, according to officials. “The minister did not inform us about the raid in advance; we learned about it afterwards,” Dhaka metropolitan police’s additional deputy commissioner Masud Rana told reporters. The post also said he had previously conducted anti-drug raids in parts of his downtown Dhaka constituency and vowed to continue the campaign to make the area drug-free. Gendaria police station officer-in-charge Moniruzzaman Monir said officers went to the location after being informed that the men had been detained.
He posted the video on social media with the caption, “Ishraque’s Action: Drug dens smashed and dealers handed over to the police.