Teenagers attack police outpost to snatch drug traders, 2 personnel injured

A group of around 30 teenagers attacked the Joydebpur Railway Police Outpost in Gazipur on Thursday evening with sharp weapons, in an attempt to free two alleged drug traders from police custody.

They fled the scene after locals and backup policemen chased after them.

Two policemen ­–Assistant Town Sub-Inspector Nurul Haque and Constable Ashikur Rahman ­– were injured in the attack, said the police outpost’s In-charge Faruk Hossain.

The group of teenagers tried to snatch and rescue two drug traders – Md Anis, 18, and a girl named Shimla Akter, 22 – from the outpost.

About a few hours earlier, police from the outpost raided the Joydebpur Railway Junction based on a tip-off, and caught the two traders red-handed while the duo were selling yaba tablets and cannabis.

Eventually, police brought them to the outpost.

Learning about their detention, a group of teenagers, which locals said also included women, attacked the police outpost with brickbats and sharp weapons including machetes, knives, Chinese axes, “hashua” and iron rods.

Police locked the doors of the outpost from the inside, but the assailants tried to tear the doors apart with their sharp weapons. As two policemen tried to resist them, they sustained deep wounds from machetes, said the outpost’s In-charge Faruk Hossain.

Hearing the commotion the locals gathered at the site, prompting the teenagers to flee.

Dhaka Railway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Jainal Abedin said two cases would be filed over the incident: one over drug peddling and another over the attack on policemen.