Staff Correspondent

Two months after the detention of “top drug dealer” Bhuiyan Sohel alias Bunia Sohel at Geneva Camp in Dhaka's Mohammadpur, his rival Selim Ashrafi alias Chua Selim has also been arrested.

He was detained from outside the capital’s Labaid Hospital on Thursday, said Rapid Action Battalion-2 Assistant Director ASP Khan Asif Topu.

The elite force official said, “Chua Selim was hospitalised and arrested following his release by a doctor. He is accused in 35 cases, including two murder cases."

Selim was covertly receiving medical treatment after being shot by his rivals at the Geneva Camp on Sept 4. He was arrested four months after the incident.

The power struggle over the drug trade at the Geneva Camp – worth billions - has been ongoing for a long time. However, clashes between the two sides escalated into constant conflict amid the unrest surrounding the July uprising.

The conflict in the camp later turned deadly with the usage of firearms looted from the police stations after the fall of the Awami League government on Aug 5, leaving at least five people dead over the past few months.

According to the residents of the Geneva camp, a few years ago the entire camp's drug business was controlled by two men named Nadim Hossain alias Panchish and Ishtiaq.

Both had amassed significant wealth through drug trafficking and maintained personal armed forces.

Panchish was killed in RAB's “crossfire” in the capital’s Purbachal in July 2018. Ishtiaq later fled to India. There are rumours in the camp that he died of COVID-19 during the pandemic.

Since then, Ishtiaq and Panchish's drug empire has fought over between two rival groups – one led by Sohel and another by Selim.

Sohel's group has allied with Syedpur's Babu, also known as Syedpuria Babu, from the "Bihari" community in Nilphamari.

The Geneva Camp often made headlines due to the conflict following the political upheaval.

RAB arrested 12 people, including Sohel, from Sylhet’s Kotwali and Habiganj’s Madhabpur area on Oct 31.