'Time bomb' found at gate of Lalon shrine in Kushtia, Dhaka disposal team defuses it
Police recovered an object identified as a 'time bomb' from the shrine of Fakir Lalon Shah at Cheuria in Kumarkhali, Kushtia. A bomb disposal team arriving from Dhaka on Monday morning examined and defused the object recovered near the main gate. Security at the shrine has been strengthened following the incident.
The incident began at midnight on Sunday. A local Baul saw an object wrapped in a white sweet packet lying under a coconut tree beside the shrine's main gate. He informed the police. News of the suspicious object prompted law enforcement to act during the night itself.
After receiving the information, the shrine area was emptied to avoid any unwanted situation. The main entrance gate to the shrine was closed. Members of the police, RAB and the Armed Police Battalion served there to ensure security, maintaining a cautious presence around the area through the night.
Police and local sources said local devotees saw the suspicious object wrapped in a white bag beside the main entrance of the shrine complex at midnight. They informed Kumarkhali police station officer-in-charge Jamal Uddin, who was on duty there.
Going to the spot, the officer-in-charge saw something resembling petrol and electrical equipment inside the bag. He then informed the superintendent of police. Law enforcement later strengthened security in the shrine area and kept the bag under guard so that no one could approach the object.
When contact was made with Dhaka through the superintendent of police, a four-member team from the bomb disposal unit arrived in Kushtia on Monday morning. On examination, they identified two bottles filled with petrol and a time bomb inside the bag. The object was then defused.
While defusing it, law enforcement kept the object inside a bucket to ensure safety. Images and descriptions of the incident show that cautious process. The immediate risk to the area ended only after the specialist team's intervention.
Kumarkhali officer-in-charge Jamal Uddin said devotees informed him after seeing a bag lying abandoned at night. He immediately went there, saw the bag and informed the superintendent of police. Later a four-member bomb disposal unit from Dhaka arrived in the morning, examined it, and through them it was learned that it was a time bomb.
The officer-in-charge also said efforts are under way to identify those involved in the incident, and that it would be possible to identify them very soon. In other words, alongside defusing the object, finding who left it beside the gate is now the main aim of the investigation.
The Lalon shrine is a well-known cultural and spiritual place in the country, visited by devotees, Bauls and many other people. The discovery of such an object beside the main gate of such a place naturally spread fear among local people. The decisions to empty the shrine area and close the gate were taken with that risk in mind.
Related sources said security at the shrine has been strengthened after the incident. Details have not been given, however, on how long the strengthened security will remain or whether any restrictions on entry will apply.
Attention now turns to the investigation. Only when answers are found to who left the object, for what purpose, and whether anyone else is connected will the full picture become clear. For now, a major danger has been avoided because the time bomb has been defused.
