Bangla Press Desk: Shots have been fired at a residential building in Chattogram after a Tk 5 million extortion demand was made to the building owner’s son.
The incident occurred near Hamzarbagh of Panchlaish Thana on Monday night.
Chattogram Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (North) Hasan Mustafa Swapan told bdnews24.com that two shots were fired at the building, named Runa Tower, around 10:30pm on Monday.
Two youths carried out the shooting, he added.
Swapan said the two sons of the building owner, Haji Yunus, are expatriates living in the Middle East, but the eldest son had recently returned to the country.
A few days ago, he received a voice message from an internet number on his mobile phone demanding Tk 5 million.
“Last night around 10:30pm, two young men went to talk to the building guard and fired two rounds at the gate as they left.”
Deputy Commissioner Swapan said, “We are taking the matter seriously and investigating. We are looking into everything to find out who did this.”
Incidents of shootings in Bayezid and Hamzarbagh of the port city for extortion demands has been a matter of heated discussion.
According to those concerned, such incidents have increased since the political changeover in 2024.
On Jan 2 and Feb 29, shots were fired at the house of Mujibur Rahman, the managing director of Smart Group and a former MP from Chittagong-16 constituency, after he did not make an extortion payment.
On Jul 13, the office of internet service company DDN was attacked and vandalised and Tk 3 million taka was looted.
Afterwards, the company’s owner alleged that Mubarak Hossain Emon alias David Emon, a follower of top Chattogram criminal Sajjad, who had fled abroad, had demanded a one-time payment of Tk 20 million and then Tk 1 million per month from DDN owner Adil Bin Mahmud.
The office was attacked when he did not pay.
On Jul 26, criminals attacked and detonated an explosive at a house under construction in Hathazari belonging to a wholesale rice trader from the Bara Dighi Par area, after he failed to make a Tk 2 million extortion payment.
