The Bangla Academy received a letter, threatening to blow up the ongoing Amar Ekushey Book Fair, from one Mohammad Saiful claiming himself to be a member of Ansar Al Islam, a banned militant organisation, on Thursday.
On receiving the letter, Bangla Academy Director General (DG) Md Nurul Huda filed a general diary (GD) with Shahbag Police Station in this connection on Thursday night.
The letter arrived at the office of the Academy around 11:30am. Later, Bangla Academy Security Officer Md Jahangir Alam took it to the police station.
Jahangir told journalists that the letter was posted from Khilgaon Post Office on February 20 and it came to Bangla Academy through GPO.
"We have identified the postal office from the postage stamp canceller on the envelope," he added.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Ramna Zone Assistant Commissioner Bayzidur Rahman said they were investigating into the matter and that they had forwarded the GD to the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit to check whether it was a real threat or not.
Bangla Academy DG said, "The threat letter claims that anti-Islamic activities are going on in the country. Naming two hotels in city's Jatrabari, the letter claims that prostitution is continuing there. [In the letter,] Extremists threatened that they would carry out bomb attack at Amar Ekushey Book Fair if such anti-Islamic activities were not stopped."
Police said they took the threat seriously with only four days of the fair left.
"We have forwarded the letter to the police station. They will look into it," said KM Mujahidul Islam, Member Secretary of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair Management Committee.
