Bangladesh Police has issued a nationwide alert warning of possible terrorist or extremist attacks targeting law enforcement vehicles, citing intelligence inputs ahead of the second anniversary of the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's government.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
The Operations Control Branch (OCB) issued the internal directive on Saturday, instructing police units across the country to tighten security for official vehicles. The directive did not specify the source of the threat.
A Bangladesh Police Headquarters (PHQ) official said security measures had been intensified nationwide.
"In line with a directive of our OCB, police units enforced the tightened vigil throughout Bangladesh against possible sabotage targeting particularly police vehicles, including jeeps, trucks and buses," the official said.
The directive instructed officers to ensure the security of official vehicles while they were in motion and when parked. It also said vehicles stopped temporarily must be kept in secure locations under constant supervision.
"No government vehicle should be left unattended...even inside police stations," the official said, citing the directive.
The alert comes days before August 5, which marks the second anniversary of the violent student-led protests that toppled Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government in 2024 and forced her to flee to India.
Despite the heightened alert, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit chief Mohammad Shamsul Haque said his agency had not received any specific intelligence about sabotage plans linked to the anniversary.
He said the unit remained on maximum alert.
The security advisory follows a series of recent bomb scares in Dhaka. Police recently defused a remote-controlled explosive device concealed inside an abandoned umbrella at the Motijheel metro station, while two unattended bags found at separate metro stations were later found to contain only betel leaves and tobacco.
After Hasina's removal from power, Bangladesh's interim government barred the Awami League from contesting elections through an executive order.
Speaking at a police event in Rajshahi on Sunday, Bangladesh home minister Salahuddin Ahmed said authorities were thoroughly investigating every incident involving suspicious objects.
"The overall law and order situation remained under control and that the government was maintaining the highest level of vigilance despite a decline in sabotage-related incidents," he said.
His remarks came a day after global crowd-sourced database Numbeo ranked Dhaka as the most unsafe and crime-prone major city in South Asia in its Mid-2026 Crime Index.
