With a hand-held loudspeaker in one hand and a pistol in the other, State Minister for Liberation War Affairs Ishraque Hossain jumped out of a vehicle and chased a group of people.
He was seen pulling back the pistol’s slide, pointing it at them and shouting: “Hey, stop, stop!”
The video was posted on Ishraque’s Facebook page around 5:15pm on Saturday.
Its caption read: “Ishraque in action: Drug den demolished, dealers handed over to police.”
It said the incident took place near the railway tracks in Gendaria.
Another man in plain clothes was also seen chasing people with a weapon.
Gendaria Police chief Moniruzzaman Monir said officers collected six people after being told they were drug users.
“Some powder was found on them. Tests will establish what it is,” he said.
Asked whether the group had informed police before conducting the operation, the officer did not respond.
Masud Rana, additional deputy commissioner of the Wari Police, said: “As far as we know, he detained six or seven people and handed them over to the police station. The state minister did not inform police beforehand. We learned about it later.”
The video drew mixed reactions online, with some questioning whether a minister could openly use a pistol. Others defended the act, saying a licensed firearm could be used in this way.
One commenter called Ishraque a “Goriber Fata Keshto”, invoking the fictional action hero known for taking the law into his own hands to fight crime, while another initially mistook the footage for a film shoot.
By 7pm, around 5,000 comments had appeared under the video.
In a later post, Ishraque vowed to continue anti-drug operations until Dhaka-6 was free of drugs.
He said no drug trader would be spared, regardless of political affiliation, and that members of his own party would face harsher punishment if involved.