Authorities yesterday tightened security measures at the venues of the ongoing Amar Ekushey Book Fair at Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan after an alleged bomb attack threat on the fair by an Islamist terrorist group.
Heavy security measures were noticed since Friday morning. Earlier on Thursday, Bangla Academy authorities filed a general diary following receiving a letter with bomb attack threat from a suspected extremist group. According to police officials, Bangla Academy director general received the letter on Thursday.
Since Friday morning, visitors were seen to go through security archways to enter the venues. Security personnel were found checking every visitor thoroughly, including their belongings.
Police officials on the venue said that they were checking the visitors to avoid any untoward incident.
Farid Ahmed, the owner of Somoy Prakashan, said that book lovers started coming to the fair from morning amid strict security measures.
Shahbag police station duty officer sub-inspector Iqbal Hossain said, “Police tightened security measures in and around the book fair as Bangla Academy security officer Md Jahangir Alam filed the general diary on behalf of the academy.”
Bangla Academy authorities on Thursday filed a general diary with Shahbag Police Station after receiving the letter allegedly from the banned extremist outfit Ansar al-Islam threatening to carry out bomb attack at the ongoing Amar Ekushey Book Fair.
The letter cites ‘Moulana Saiful Islam’ as the sender, said an official at Shahbagh police station.
‘The threat letter claims that anti-Islamic activities are going on in the country. Naming two hotels in city’s Jatrabari, the letter claims that prostitution is continuing there. Extremists threatened that they would carry out bomb attack at Amar Ekushey Book Fair if such anti-Islamic activities were not stopped,’ Bangla Academy director general Mohammad Nurul Huda told media early Friday.
