Dhaka: Bangladesh police has issued a nationwide alert against possible terrorist or extremist attacks on vehicles used by law enforcement agencies, in line with intelligence reports.
The Operations Control Branch (OCB) issued the internal directive Saturday without naming or specifying the source of the threat.
The directive, however, coincides with the second anniversary of the ouster of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government August 5, 2024, following a violent student-led street protest.
A Bangladesh police headquarters (PHQ) official, familiar with the situation, said Sunday that police units tightened countrywide security vigil against possible attacks.
In line with a directive of our OCB, police units enforced the tightened vigil throughout Bangladesh against possible sabotage targeting particularly police vehicles, including jeeps, trucks and buses, the official said.
According to the official directive, police were asked to ensure the security of official vehicles both while in motion and parked positions. It also stated that automobiles stopped temporarily must be kept in secure locations under constant supervision.
No government vehicle should be left unattended…even inside police stations, the official said, citing the directive.
Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka recently faced bomb scares at metro stations. The police’s bomb disposal unit neutralised a remote-controlled explosive device covered in an abandoned umbrella at the service’s Motijheel stop.
Two abandoned bags at two other stations also caused public fright, though the unit subsequently said they contained only betel leaves and tobacco.
While the police directive coincides with the second anniversary of the Awami League’s ouster, the police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime chief Mohammad Shamsul Haque said his unit did not have any specific intelligence indicating sabotage plans related to August 5 but remains on maximum alert.
Hasina’s government was toppled in August 2024 after violent student-led street protests, following which she fled to India.
An interim government, which took charge after Hasina’s ouster, barred her political party, Awami League, from participating in the elections through an executive order.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed Sunday said at a police event in northwestern Rajshahi that every incident involving suspicious objects was being thoroughly investigated.
The overall law and order situation remained under control and the government was maintaining the highest level of vigilance despite a decline in sabotage-related incidents, he said.
His comments came a day after global crowd-sourced database Numbeo said Dhaka was the most unsafe and crime-prone major city in South Asia in its Mid-2026 Crime Index.