DHAKA: Bangladeshi police said on Monday more than 1,300 people have been arrested in a sweeping crackdown dubbed “Operation Devil Hunt”, targeting gangs allegedly connected to the ousted regime of Sheikh Hasina.

Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, head of the interior ministry in the interim government that took over after Hasina was ousted in the Aug 2024 student-led revolution, has vowed the operations will continue “until we uproot the devils”.

Police spokesman Inamul Haque Sagar said that operations continue, but from its launch on Saturday “1,308 people were arrested across the country”. The security operations come after widespread unrest earlier this month.

On Wednesday, six months to the day since Hasina fled as crowds stormed her palace in Dhaka, protesters smashed down buildings connected to her family using excavators. Protests were triggered in response to reports that 77-year-old Hasina — who has defied an arrest warrant to face trial crimes against humanity — would appear in a Facebook broadcast from exile in neighbouring India.

Authorities say ‘Operation Devil Hunt’ began after gangs linked to the fallen government attacked a group of students

Buildings destroyed included the museum and former home of Hasina’s late father, Bangladesh’s first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, sparking condemnation from a group of civil rights activists. There were also clashes between anti-Hasina protesters and members of her Awami League party.

The interim government blamed Hasina for the violence. On Friday, interim leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus appealed for calm, Hours later, members of the Students Against Discrimination — the protest group credited with sparking the uprising against Hasina — were attacked in the Dhaka district of Gazipur.

The vocal and powerful group — whose members are in the government cabinet — then demanded action. The government said operations began after gangs “linked to the fallen autocratic regime attacked a group of students, leaving them severely injured”.

The operations have raised concerns. The government said it had tasked a special “command centre” team to “oversee the efforts of the law enforcement agencies”, Shafiqul Alam, press adviser to Yunus told reporters. But Supreme Court lawyer Snehadri Chakravarty slammed the operation as “eye-wash”, saying mass arrests risked sweeping up “innocent people” without addressing core problems.

“I don’t think this drive will significantly improve the worsening law and order situation,” he said. “To me, it seems like mere eye-wash.”

During Monday’s operation, law enforcement seized a cache of weapons, including one foreign-made pistol, two magazines, 17 bullets, three knives, three swords, one axe, 10 crude bombs, eight sticks, four iron rods, and four machetes , Dhaka Tribune reported.

Yunus also affirmed that human rights violations will not be tolerated in any way during Operation Devil Hunt.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2025