Nine people were arrested in a joint operation by army and police at a business establishment in Magura's Parla area around midnight today.

Farid Hasan Khan, vice president of Magura Chamber of Commerce and Sohel Reza, joint convener of district Swechchhasebak Dal were among those arrested.

The other seven arrestees are Nuhu Darul Huda, a local Awami League leader, Kazi Ariful Haque, Abdul Jalil, Ainul Hossain, Shahin Sheikh, Ilias Khan, and Syed Khairul Alam.

The army recovered a Chinese pistol, one magazine, two single-barrel guns, an air gun, 264 air-gun bullets, two Chinese axes, six chapatis, 2 bottles of liquor, Tk 1.45 lakh in cash, and 11 mobile phones during the raid.

Magura Army Camp Commander Major Safin said, "We had several complaints against Farid Hasan Khan, including extortion and intimidation. The raid was conducted based on all those complaints. In the raid, his associates along with weapons, drugs were arrested and handed over to the police station."

Magura Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Ayub Ali said the accused were handed over to the police station in the morning. A case against them is under process.