Gazipur police detained six BNP me, including its executive committee member Kazi Sayedul Alam Babul, when they were trying to block the Dhaka-Tangail highway on the first day of the 48-hour blockade enforced by BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami.

The names of the five other leaders could not be known immediately.

Akbar Ali Khan, officer-in-charge of Kaliakoir Police Station, said Babul and the others were arrested on the highway around 6:00am.

The OC said that BNP leaders and activists took position on the highway around 4:30am.

When they tried to block the highway, they were arrested, he added.