Armed robbers looted Tk 3.5 million from peanut traders by holding them hostage on the Meghna River in Ashuganj upazila of Brahmanbaria on Saturday morning. The incident occurred around 6 a.m. in the Charchartala area when traders from NM Brothers, a peanut business based in Bhairab, were traveling by boat toward Baishmouja market in Nabinagar. The robbers attacked from another boat, seized the money, and fled the scene. Naval police later reached the spot by speedboat and rescued the traders.

According to Shamim Ahmed, one of the directors of NM Brothers, the Baishmouja market operates twice a week during the April–June peanut trading season. Fifteen people were on the traders’ boat when six robbers boarded it for about ten minutes, looted the cash, and disabled the boat’s engine before escaping. Bhairab Naval Police Officer-in-Charge Moniruzzaman Chowdhury stated that the case falls under another police station’s jurisdiction, but his team has also launched an operation to catch the robbers.

Police are preparing a case in the relevant jurisdiction and have begun efforts to identify and arrest the culprits.