Criminals attack joint force camp in Chattogram’s Jungle Salimpur, says RAB

Law-enforcing agencies have reported an exchange of gunfire with armed criminals in Jungle Salimpur, a longstanding “fortified stronghold” of criminal groups in Chattogram’s Sitakunda Upazila.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said the attack on the joint forces camp began around 1:00 am on Monday, with both sides locked in a gunfight that lasted two hours.

RAB-7 Commander Lt Col Hafizur Rahman, speaking around 3:30 am, pinned the attack on the Yasin gang, bdnews24.com reports.

Jungle Salimpur has historically operated almost like a state within a state, where outsiders dared not enter without explicit permission from illegal land grabbers.

In 2022, the then Awami League government drafted plans to reclaim the Khas or government-owned fallow land to build a central jail, a sports village, a cricket stadium, an iconic mosque, and an eco-park.

But repeated eviction attempts ran into resistance from those entrenched there.

On January 19, a RAB team entered the area in several microbuses for an operation.

Local residents later surrounded the force after “making announcements over loudspeakers” and detained three members.

In the mob attack that followed, RAB Deputy Assistant Director Nayek Subedar Motaleb Hossain Bhuiyan was beaten to death.

Later, on March 9, the local administration carried out another major drive with 3,183 members of different law-enforcing agencies.

The operation included 487 Army personnel, 122 Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members and 371 RAB officers.

Three helicopters, 15 armoured personnel carriers (APCs), a dog squad, and 12 drones were deployed.

Several people were detained but Yasin remained out of reach.

Administratively part of Sitakunda, Jungle Salimpur is accessed through the Bangla Bazar area of Bayezid Police Station in Chattogram city -- a remote, hill-and-forest-covered patch off the Bayezid Link Road towards Bhatiari.

Locals said settlements began emerging there around 2002-03, and the entire rootless population has since been divided into 11 "societies" for administrative convenience.

The specific Alinagar sector is ostensibly managed under the banner of the Alinagar Multipurpose Co-operative Society Limited, but Yasin maintains absolute control over the territory.

Newly appointed Police Superintendent Masud Alam said on May 17 the government was planning to build a police training academy on the site.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed is scheduled to visit Jungle Salimpur on May 31.