Pistol-wielding Bangladesh minister leads drug raid, cops say they weren't informed

He stepped out of his vehicle with a megaphone in one hand and a pistol in the other. His bodyguards rushed towards people beside railway tracks. Someone beside him was heard saying, “I’ll shoot you dead.” One bodyguard kicked a young man.This was no movie scene. It happened in Dhaka, and the armed man was Bangladesh’s State Minister for Liberation War Affairs, Ishraque Hossain.The minister led what he described as an anti-drug operation near Gendaria Railway Station on Saturday afternoon.“Sir, I haven’t done anything. I’m a poor man, sir,” young men were heard saying in a video posted on his Facebook page. “The police will come, then we’ll talk,” Hossain replied.Six people were detained and handed over to police. Officers said powder allegedly found in their possession would be tested to determine whether it was a drug. The video was later deleted after sparking debate over the minister’s conduct.KEY QUESTION: WERE POLICE INFORMED?Accounts differed on whether police knew about Saturday's raid.Pavel Sikder, a former Dhaka City South convener of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal who accompanied Hossain, told Bangladeshi publication Prothom Alo that police had been informed but took time to arrive.He said the group reached the area between 3 pm and 3.30 pm following repeated complaints from residents.Dhaka Metropolitan Police additional deputy commissioner Masud Rana disputed that account. “The minister did not inform us about the raid in advance; we learned about it afterwards,” he told reporters.MINISTER DEFENDS HIS RAIDHossain, 39, belongs to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party and was elected from Dhaka-6 in the February 12 parliamentary elections. The raid took place in his constituency.He said repeated meetings with police had failed to produce effective action.“I have held meetings with the police at least 30 to 40 times. They give different explanations each time. They say they lack manpower and vehicles, among other things,” he told Prothom Alo.He claimed police officers had previously been shot and injured during an operation in the area. He carried the pistol because drug dealers fired at people from a distance, he said.Gendaria police station officer-in-charge Moniruzzaman Monir disputed the allegation of inaction. He said 300 police personnel had conducted an operation on October 11, supported by the Detective Branch and Special Response Battalion.Hossain said his weapon was legally owned and denied using it to intimidate anyone. “I did not fire any shots, nor did I use it to intimidate anyone. Yes, we conducted the operation, and we are building social resistance,” he said.According to Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s firearms policy permits carrying licensed weapons for self-defence but prohibits displaying them in a way that causes fear or annoyance.A HANDS-ON APPROACHHossain has previously posted videos of himself taking part in cleanliness drives and efforts to curb rising commodity prices on his Facebook page, which has nearly four million followers.The deleted post said he had also conducted anti-drug raids elsewhere in his constituency and intended to continue.- Ends