Police in a pre-dawn swoop yesterday raided two residential halls of Dhaka University and arrested 20 outsiders on charges of illegal stay. Fifteen of the arrested are from Surya Sen Hall and five from Hazi Mohammad Mohsin Hall.

The arrested persons include Jahangir Hossain, Yakub Ali. Sobhan. Shah Alam (1). Malek. Chan Mia. Babul (1). Abul Has-nat, Azad. Mizanur Rahman. Delwar Hossain. Kalam. Babul, (2). Shafiqur Rahman. Imam. Shah Alam (2). Anwar and Nazrul Islam.

The arrested are activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). the student wing of the ruling Awami League. All of them were taken to court yesterday morning.

Campus sources said police simultaneously cordoned both

the BCL dominated halls at about 12:30 AM and conducted the raid.

During the three and a half hour raid, police persons went to almost all rooms and checked the Identity (ID) cards of the students in the presence of the hall provost and house tutors. Police arrested those who had no ID cards.

Talking to The. Daily Star Ramna police said that all 20 persons arrested are on charges of illegal stay in the halls. Most of them are guests of residential students, they added. No specific case, however, has been filed against them.

When contacted, authorities of both the halls said that they will take punitive measures against outsiders for staying in the halls and creating anarchy on the campus.

All outsiders and terrorists will be taken to task and none will be spared, the hall authorities added.

They however admitted that the situation in their halls has been improving gradually due to frequent police operation and nabbing of outsiders.