Police detained four people during a raid at a textile factory owned by a former member of parliament and Awami League leader in Chattogram city on Monday evening following allegations of supplying fabric to produce uniforms for the banned armed group Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF).
At 9 pm, the Chandgaon Police Station of the Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) conducted a raid in the Chandgaon area of the city and arrested the four people along with a cloth car.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Chandgaon Police Station Md. Aftab Uddin said, a raid was conducted at the Well Fabrics Factory on suspicion that KNF clothing was being manufactured. Four people were detained for questioning along with the clothes rolled in the car.
On the night of May 26, the police recovered 11,785 uniforms from a factory in the city's Oxygen Nayahat area. On the night of May 17, the detective police seized 20,300 suspicious garments from Ringvo Apparels in the Nayarhat area of Bayezid Bostami Police Station in the city.
Also, on the night of May 27, the police conducted a raid on a factory on DT Road of Pahartali Police Station and seized 15,000 uniforms. In this incident, Bayezid Bostami Police Station Sub-Inspector (SI) Ariful Islam filed a case with Pahartali Police Station under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The case statement said that the seized garments were uniforms of the KNF, an armed organization in the hills.
The police arrested three people, including the owner of the garment factory, in this incident. The three arrested are Shahedul Islam, Golam Azam and Niaz Haider. Police said that Shahedul Islam is the owner of the factory. The other two brought the order to make the garments.
It is worth noting that the KNF emerged as an armed group in the Chattogram Hill Tracts three years ago by opening a page on Facebook. They announced the formation of a separate state with 9 upazilas of two districts in the hills. However, the KNF has been accused of training members of Islamic militant groups. There have also been armed clashes between the KNF and law enforcement agencies. The robbery of three branches of two banks in two upazilas of Bandarban within a span of 17 hours has created a sensation.
