A Bangladeshi minister triggered a debate on social media after carrying out a raid on a suspected drug den in a Dhaka slum on Saturday, armed with a pistol and accompanied by associates, at least one of whom was also seen carrying a handgun.State minister for liberation war affairs Ishraque Hossain shared a video of the raid, showing him stepping out of a vehicle with a megaphone in one hand and a pistol in the other before chasing a group of people near Gandaria Railway Station.“You are ruining the entire town, destroying the entire area,” Hossain, 39, was heard telling the group in the footage, news agency PTI reported.Some of the men detained by his associates claimed they were innocent. “Let police come, then there will be talks,” Hossain was heard responding.Police said the minister had not informed them about the raid beforehand. He and his associates detained six people and handed them over to the local police station, according to officials.“The minister did not inform us about the raid in advance; we learned about it afterwards,” Dhaka metropolitan police’s additional deputy commissioner Masud Rana told reporters.Hossain, a member of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was elected to Parliament from the area in the February 12 elections.He posted the video on social media with the caption, “Ishraque’s Action: Drug dens smashed and dealers handed over to the police.” The post also said he had previously conducted anti-drug raids in parts of his downtown Dhaka constituency and vowed to continue the campaign to make the area drug-free.Gendaria police station officer-in-charge Moniruzzaman Monir said officers went to the location after being informed that the men had been detained.“They detained six people and claimed they were drug abusers, so we went and brought them in,” he said.“Some powder was found in their possession, which will be tested to find out if the substance is a drug,” he added.
