Bangladesh police raid office of opposition leader Khaleda Zia

The office of Khaleda Zia, the main opposition leader in Bangladesh, has come under a raid by police forces as authorities claim they were searching for anti-state documents.

“We entered the office following a court order to search for anti-state and anti-government documents," Gulshan police chief Abu Baker Siddique said on Saturday of the raid which took place in an affluent neighborhood of the capital city of Dhaka.

Other sources said police had found no valuable material during the raid. Dozens of police officers surrounded the compound for two hours as other forces smashed the locks to enter the office. Other reports said close circuit cameras were also disabled by the police during the raid.

Khaleda Zia and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) condemned the raid as politically-motivated, saying it was meant to weaken the BNP as it prepares for the next general election.

“This is a politically motivated raid by the government. It is a move to taint our party leader's image," BNP spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said, adding that the drive was part of "a conspiracy" against Zia.

Zia, a two-time former prime minister, faces about three dozen cases of alleged graft, treason and violence.

SS