Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested two alleged extortionists conducting an overnight drive in Khanjahan Ali area.
An elite anti-crime force conducted a drive at the Alok Palli School area responding to secret information and arrested the duo identifying them as Sadman Khan Supto and Mehbub, a RAB press release said.
They were later handed over to the local police station.
The release said the arrested persons demanded Taka five lakh as extortion to local journalist Abu Hamja Badhan and threatened him as he published a news item saying a syndicate led by Fultala upazila unit Awami League's ex-secretary Aslam Khan embezzled rice allocated by the government for 11 orphanage centres.
Later, a gang led by Supta and Mehbub intercepted the journalist in front of the Eastern Gate electricity office on the Jashore-Khulna highway while he was returning home from his workplace and threatened to kill him if he failed to provide the demanded money.
Badhan filed an extortion case against the arrested and several unnamed persons the next day, the release added.
