Attack on health centre: 9 arrested, two truckloads of looted goods recovered

Police have arrested nine people in connection with an overnight attack and vandalism at a health centre in the capital’s Mirpur, while two truckloads of allegedly looted goods have been recovered.

Mohammad Akter Hossain, deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Media and Public Relations Division, confirmed the arrests and recovery on Sunday (September 27).

He said the nine were arrested in connection with the attack and vandalism at the Radda MCH-FP Centre in Mirpur, and that two truckloads of items allegedly looted from the facility had been recovered.

The incident reportedly took place around midnight on September 25, when a group of masked men allegedly attacked and ransacked the private organisation’s Radda MCH-FP Centre in Mirpur-1.

Dr Nasrin Akhter, executive director of the organisation, alleged that the attackers held security guards hostage before vandalising and looting one permanent and three semi-permanent buildings. She also alleged that signboards of a shopkeepers’ association were subsequently installed at the site.

A case has been filed with Shah Ali Police Station over the incident, she added.

According to Dr Nasrin, the attackers took government-supplied EPI vaccines, vaccination registers and documents, family planning supplies and contraceptive methods, medicines and vaccines, around Tk 1.14 million in cash, and an ultrasound machine valued at approximately Tk 4.5 million.

Other allegedly looted items included a generator, three refrigerators, three air conditioners, CCTV cameras, three steel cupboards, five steel filing cabinets, laboratory equipment and reagents, two televisions, two computers, two laptops, two printers and various pieces of furniture.

Dr Nasrin estimated the financial loss from the equipment and other property alone at around Tk 15 million.

The Radda MCH-FP Centre has been providing free primary healthcare, maternal healthcare, family planning services and child immunisation to underprivileged residents of the Mirpur area for nearly 50 years through a partnership with the government, she said.