Tenant info drive goes unheeded in Ctg
On February 28
this year RAB had seized a huge cache of explosives and bombs from a five-storey building at Halishahar area in the city
ANWAR HUSSAIN, Ctg
Most of the house owners in Chittagong are not scrutinising information while renting out their houses to strangers. Militant outfits are taking advantage of the situation and running their activities in disguise by giving false information to the house owners.Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) officials said that they have repeatedly urged house owners not to rent out their houses to any suspicious person and requested every house owner to provide all necessary information about their tenants to the nearby police station. However, the request went unheeded.
The house owners in most cases do not bother about the background of tenants and remain satisfied only with receiving house rent on a regular basis. However, senior CMP officials warned the landlords, saying that they would be stern in dealing with this particular issue from now on so that militants could not take shelter in any house concealing their real identities. It may be mentioned that police arrested five militants of the banned militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and recovered nine hand grenades, a pistol, 120 rounds of bullets, 10 knives and bomb-making materials during a raid in the city on October 5. The law enforcers arrested militants after conducting a raid at a ground-floor flat of a five-storey building at Khowaj Nagar area under Karnaphuli Police Station in the city. On February 28 this year, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) had seized a huge cache of explosives and bombs from a militant hideout at a five-storey building at Halishahar area in the city.
The RAB also arrested three militants from the building. The buildings residents at that time said that the trio had taken the house on rent only one month ago.
CMP commissioner Abdul Jalil Mondal told The Independent that they have issued a circular about keeping record of the identities of tenants. Weve asked the landlords to submit their tenants National Identity Cards to nearby police stations. Regrettably, they did not pay heed to the circular. Weve also distributed leaflets, pasted posters and campaigned through loudspeakers in this respect, he said.
Taking advantage of the ignorance of the landlords, members of banned militant outfits are taking shelter in rented houses by concealing their identities. Well urge the landlords to make sure that their tenants do not belong to any terrorist group or militant outfit. The landlords must bear all the responsibilities and they will have to face legal consequences if any militant is found to have taken shelter in their houses, Mondal cautioned.
Abdur Rahim, a landlord of Kadamtali area, said that they do not bother about checking their tenants National Identity Cards while renting out houses.
We rent out our houses to those who can afford it. Its the house rent which matters most to us, said the landlord, adding that no one from the Chittagong Metropolitan Police came to them for raising awareness in this regard.
