Police have called for a full-scale commando operation, including the deployment of helicopters and heavy weapons, in the remote Jungle Salimpur in Chattogram.
According to law enforcers, the area has become a stronghold for armed criminal groups, and conventional policing methods are no longer sufficient to restore control and ensure public safety.
Located in the hilly terrain of Sitakunda upazila in Chattogram, Jungle Salimpur has developed into a densely populated, largely unauthorised and unplanned settlement housing around 100,000 people.
Thousands of makeshift homes, many built illegally on cleared hills and forest land, lack basic services and legal documentation. Its remote location and weak oversight have turned it into a hotspot for criminal activity and land encroachment, despite repeated eviction efforts.
Saiful Islam Shanto, superintendent of police (SP) of Chattogram district police, on Tuesday told reporters, “We have received actionable intelligence that multiple armed groups have fortified positions in Jungle Salimpur, carrying out extortion, arms trafficking, land grabbing and violent clashes.
“To restore public safety, commando squads, aerial surveillance, and heavy arms support is needed to neutralise the criminal elements while minimising harm to innocent residents.”
Stating that several government advisers and senior police officials have been informed about the commando operation, he added that the terrorists in Jungle Salimpur have links with the separatist terrorist group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
There is information that weapons looted from police stations in the Chittagong region after 5 August, 2024, have also been hidden here.
Jungle Salimpur: A hub of crime and chaos
Jahedul, 42, a shopkeeper in the Ali Nagar side of Jungle Salimpur, spoke with visible distress, “We have been paying protection “fees” to local armed groups for months. Every night we hear gunshots echoing through the hills how we live in fear forever.”
Another person named Mizanur, who has resided in Salimpur for over a decade, said, “For years we’ve endured demands, threats, violence. Just a few days ago, gangs occupied my neighbour’s residence. We told the police, but nothing changed.”
Jungle Salimpur has long been a hotspot for crime and unrest. On Sunday, gang members assaulted a reporting team from Ekhon Television, looting their camera and other equipment.
Earlier, on 4 October, 2025, a violent clash among the rival gangs reportedly, led by Sarwar Babla, left one person dead and 16 injured during a failed land grab attempt. In August, police uncovered a clandestine arms factory in the area, arresting four local residents and seizing a cache of illegal weapons.
The area has also witnessed deadly encounters with the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), including the killing of 48-year-old Kajal in a reported gunfight.
In 2022, eviction drives in Jungle Salimpur triggered violent protests, leaving 10 people injured and disrupting electricity and access to the area. Environmental hazards have further deepened the crisis, in 2017, a landslide caused by illegal hill-cutting claimed the lives of five members of a single family.
Widespread land grabbing and alleged political backing have been blamed for escalating the risks.
According to SP Shanto, police have already cordoned off key access routes into the hills surrounding Jungle Salimpur.
“Residents should remain cautious and avoid any association with criminal elements. Our goal is to quickly contain and neutralise the threat,” he added.
