Law enforcement and security agencies arrested at least 532 individuals more on Wednesday across the country in the ongoing Operation Devil Hunt, raising the total number of arrests in the drive to 6,357 since the operation began on February 8.
They also seized one foreign pistol, one magazine, one still machete, two Burmese knives and other sharp weapons in 24 hours ending at 8:00am on Wednesday, said a police headquarters press release.
Outside the Operation Devil Hunt, 1,051 arrests were made on Wednesday in different cases across the country taking the total arrests on the day to 1,583, the release added.
On Tuesday, 1,647 individuals, including 506 in the Operation Devil Hunt, were arrested, while 1,503 arrests, including 529 in the Operation Devil Hunt, on Monday were made.
On Sunday, 1,140, including 389 in the Operation Devil Hunt, were arrested, while on Saturday, 1,347 individuals, including 477 in the operation were arrested.
On February 9, total 1,308 people were arrested, according to police officials.
On February 10, total 1,521, including 343 in the Operation Devil Hunt, were arrested. On February 11, another 1,775 people, including 607 in the Operation Devil Hunt, were arrested. On February 12, total 1,686 people, including 591 in the Operation Devil Hunt, were arrested, On February 13, total 1,665 arrests, including 566 in the Operation Devil Hunt, were made, and on February 14, total 1,457 arrests, including 509 in the Operation Devil Hunt, were made.
In the period, total 16,632 people, mostly Awami League leaders and activists, were arrested, police officials said.
At least 15 members of the Students Against Discrimination were injured in a counter attack by local people over an alleged attack on the ousted AL government鈥檚 liberation war affairs minister AKM Mozammel Haque on the night of February 7, leading to the death of Abdul Kashem, 17, one of the injured, while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The Operation Devil Hunt was announced in the aftermath of a spate of attacks carried out on the houses of Awami League leaders, party offices, and the murals and portraits of the country鈥檚 founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his daughter deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina since February 5 when the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum building at Dhanmondi 32 in Dhaka was razed to the ground.
The chaotic situation ensued when different groups on their social media platforms called on people to join the 鈥楤ulldozer procession鈥� to demolish the Dhanmondi 32 building over a speech of Sheikh Hasina, now sheltered in India following her ouster amid a mass uprising, to the country鈥檚 student community online on February 5 evening.