'Time bomb' found on Cox's Bazar-bound bus; defused

A time bomb was recovered from a Cox's Bazar bound bus on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway in Mouchak area of Narayanganj on Friday night and was defused after three hours. 

The bomb like object was recovered from a sleeper bus of Bengal Paribahan bus around 10:30pm Friday (5 January). After informing the police, the bomb disposal unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism unit arrived at the spot and conducted an operation. After testing, they confirmed that the object was a time bomb. The bomb was defused around 1:30am.

District Police Superintendent Golam Mostafa Russell said about the recovery of the bomb, "The time was set in the bomb. It would have exploded at the fixed time and the entire bus would have caught fire. If not recovered at the right time, there could have been major damage."

Mohammad Hasan, supervisor of the Bengal Transport bus, said, "Our bus left from Gabtali in Dhaka for Cox's Bazar. When we reached Mouchak area I came to count how many seats were empty before picking up passengers on Chattogram Road. At this time, I saw this bomb-like object in a bag behind a seat. There was no passenger in that seat. I immediately told the driver to park the car on the side of the road and called the police on 999."

He also said, "A passenger got on the bus from Gabtali in that seat. I think he got down at a bus stop on the way. Hearing about the bomb, all the passengers got off the bus."

Abu Bakkar Siddique, officer in charge of Siddhirganj police station, said, "The bomb recovered from the passenger bus has been defused. Legal process is underway."