No formal decision on joint anti-crime drive: Home Minister

He made the remarks at a press briefing in Tejgaon on Thursday morning after unveiling the foundation plaque for the construction of a new headquarters for Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP).

The minister said coordinated activities involving the police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Special Response Battalion (SRB, formerly RAB) and Ansar are routinely conducted to combat terrorism, extortion and drug-related crimes.

“These coordinated activities are a regular process and will be strengthened further in the future.''

On the new Ansar headquarters, Salahuddin Ahmed said the long-standing demand for a modern and suitable headquarters for Bangladesh Ansar and VDP was now being fulfilled.

He said the Ministry of Housing and Public Works had allocated 3.428 acres of land-- roughly 11 bighas--for construction of the new headquarters.

The new complex will provide a larger and modern facility to address space constraints and transportation difficulties at the existing Ansar headquarters in Khilgaon, he said.

According to the minister, Bangladesh currently has around 20,000 battalion Ansar members and 60,000 Ansar personnel deployed at various establishments.

In addition, around six million trained personnel are affiliated with the VDP under 35,000 team leaders, he said.

Combining its regular and auxiliary components, the Ansar and VDP is the country’s largest force in terms of manpower, Ahmed added.