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Police recovered and safely defused an improvised explosive device (IED) found inside an umbrella beneath the Motijheel Metro Rail Station in the capital on Friday evening, triggering panic among pedestrians and briefly disrupting traffic in the area.
According to officials of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), the suspicious object was spotted on the road beneath the metro station at around 7:30pm. Passersby alerted police after noticing the abandoned umbrella, prompting officers to cordon off the area and call in the DMP Bomb Disposal Unit.
Bomb disposal experts later confirmed that the device was an improvised explosive device (IED) and successfully neutralised it at the scene. Witnesses said a loud blast was heard during the controlled disposal operation.
Traffic on the road beneath the station remained suspended for a short period while the operation was underway. However, metro rail services continued uninterrupted throughout the incident.
DMP Deputy Commissioner (Media and Public Relations) Niaz Mehdi said the recovered device was an IED that had been safely defused and removed from the area.
He added that law enforcement agencies have launched an investigation to identify those responsible for leaving the explosive inside the umbrella.
Asked about the incident, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of MRT Police Siddiqi Tanzilur Rahman said he was busy preparing an official report and declined to comment further.
An officer on duty at the MRT Police control room said the explosive was recovered from beside the road beneath the metro station, not from within the metro rail facility itself. As a result, only road traffic was temporarily affected, while metro train operations remained normal.
Authorities are reviewing CCTV footage and conducting further investigations to determine the origin of the explosive and whether the incident was an isolated act or part of a broader security threat.