With the surrender of the last remaining bandit groups active in the Sundarbans, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has declared the mangrove forest free of dacoits.
“The Sundarbans is now pirate free. The pirates have laid down arms responding to our call. We are giving them Tk 100,000 each. They can now live in their own villages with their families. Police and RAB are helping them,” she said through a videoconference from Ganabhaban on Thursday (Nov 1).
The latest surrender took place at Bagerhat’s Sheikh Helal Uddin Stadium in the presence of Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, several ministers, MPs, and top RAB officials.
Fifty-four members of the bandit groups, including their chiefs, surrendered 58 firearms and 3,351 ammunition —promising to return to normal life.
The groups are: Sattar Bahini, Mukul-Siddiq Group, Al Amin Bahini, Anarul Bahini and Taiyab Bahini.
Prime Minister Hasina thanked RAB, police, the Home Ministry, and everyone involved with the process.
“A longstanding problem has been solved,” she said.
Hasina said the government is rehabilitating the former bandits and that RAB, police, and local administration will provide them with assistance to help them return to their normal lives.
In a similar event in the past, nine other groups, containing 84 members surrendered.
On May 31, 2015, head of Master Bahini, Kader Master and eight cohorts surrendered 50 weapons and 5000 rounds of ammunition and after that several other outlawed bands also gave up their weapons and came back to normal life.
Eventually, 274 bandits of 29 gangs surrendered 404 firearms and 19,153 rounds of ammunition over the years.