Police have detained three Jamaat-e-Islami workers with Chinese axes and locally made weapons after a joint force stopped and searched a microbus used by the party’s Meherpur district chief Tajuddin Khan.

The vehicle was intercepted on Monday morning at a checkpoint set up at the Hotel Bazar four-road junction in Meherpur town, Sub-Inspector BM Rana of the local police unit said, accoording to bdnews24.com..

He said the men were travelling to a rally at the town’s High School ground to mark the arrival of Jamaat-e-Islami’s deputy chief Shafiqur Rahman in Meherpur.

Those detained were identified as Selim Reza, 27, a district correspondent for Bangla Edition and a Jamaat worker; Shaharul Islam, the administrator of Tajuddin’s Facebook page; and the driver, Izarul Haque, police said.

SI Rana said all vehicles were being checked as part of the joint force’s routine checkpoint when a white Noah microbus was searched.

Officers recovered three foldable double sticks, a foreign-made axe, an electric shocker, a pair of pliers, three walkie-talkies, four chargers and a hand microphone.

In the presence of an executive magistrate, SI said the three occupants, the weapons, and the microbus were seized and the men taken into custody.