Police fail to track 3 of Bangabandhu’s killers

Three of the 12 convicted killers of Bangabandhu are on the move, travelling from one country to another, but police have failed to identify their current locations. 

The police headquarters said Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haque Dalim might be in Pakistan or Libya, Lt Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rashid might be in Libya or Zimbabwe, and Risalder Moslehuddin might be in Pakistan. 

Intelligence sources said Khandaker Abdur Rashid, one of the masterminds of Bangabandhu's killing, has a construction business in Libya. He used to visit Pakistan and Zimbabwe from Libya frequently.  

Besides, Shariful Haque Dalim often travels to Libya, in particular, Benghazi. He has businesses in Nairobi and some other African countries. He has even managed a Kenyan passport.

On the other hand, police have found out the locations of two convicts – Lt Col (retd) SHMB Nur Chowdhury and Lt Col (retd) AM Rashed Chawdhary – with the help of the Interpol.

Nur lives in Canada, and Rashed in the US. They are seeking asylum in their respective countries.

The National Central Bureau (NCB) of the police headquarters said the Interpol had issued red notices against five convicts living in Libya, the US, Canada, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe.

Mohidul Islam, assistance inspector general of the NCB, told The Business Standard he had learned that discussions with those countries to repatriate the killers had made good progress. 

"Police are working to identify the locations of three convicts. Our foreign ministry is working to bring them back," he said. 

He further said police had written to different countries, enquiring about whether the three convicts live there. "But most of the countries, including Pakistan, did not reply." 

NCB sources said the government had formed a taskforce to bring back the killers from abroad. The taskforce held a meeting at the Meghna state guest house last year. 

Intelligence sources said Risalder Moslehuddin had been in India till 2000. He was arrested twice there, but Indian police could not determine his real identity as he had been using aliases. 

He had left India before the Bangladesh government provided Indian officials with his pictures and particulars.

Five of the 12 convicts – Lt Col Syed Farooq Rehman, Lt Col Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col (retd) Mohiuddin, Maj Mohiuddin, and Maj Bazlul Huda – are on death row. 

Of them, Mohiuddin was deported to Bangladesh from the US on 17 June 2007 after an American court had rejected his appeal for residency.

Bazlul Huda was extradited from Bangkok on the day the trial court pronounced the verdict against him in 1998.

Captain Abdul Majed, another convict, was arrested in the capital's Mirpur last year. He was hanged in Dhaka central jail in April that year.