Police investigate abandoned bag at Narayanganj filling station after security scare

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Police in Narayanganj have launched an investigation into a security scare at a Sonargaon filling station after a suspicious, locked bag prompted a temporary shutdown of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. Authorities are currently tracing the owners of documents discovered inside the abandoned luggage to determine if the incident involved criminal intent or political motives.

The incident occurred Saturday evening at the United Filling Station in the Nayapara area of Kanchpur. Surveillance footage captured a woman leaving the locked bag at the facility at approximately 6:30 p.m. When no one returned to claim the item for several hours, staff alerted law enforcement, sparking concerns of a potential explosive device.

Emergency teams, including local police, detectives, and members of the Rapid Action Battalion, cordoned off the area around midnight. As a precautionary measure, traffic on the busy Dhaka-Chittagong highway was halted for roughly 30 minutes while specialized units were summoned to the scene.

At approximately 2:15 a.m., the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Bomb Disposal Unit conducted a search of the bag. Officials confirmed the contents posed no threat, revealing only worn clothing, a personal purse, a national identity card belonging to a woman from the Belkuchi Upazila of Sirajganj, and a professional driving license registered to her husband.

Narayanganj Additional Superintendent of Police Tareq Al Mehdi stated that a general diary has been filed with the Sonargaon police station to formalize the inquiry. Investigators are currently analyzing additional CCTV footage and cross-referencing the recovered identity documents with criminal and political databases to ascertain the circumstances behind the abandonment of the bag.