Mohiuddin was expected to travel to Dhaka via Bangkok but Bangladesh Ambassador in Bangkok Shahed Akhter told The Daily Star over telephone last night that he had no knowledge of Mohiuddin's whereabouts.

The comments contradicted earlier information from the home ministry, where a source quoting the foreign ministry said Mohiuddin had arrived at Bangkok Airport yesterday morning and was to be flown to Dhaka today onboard a Thai Airways flight.

"There was an indication of deporting him today, but we've no confirmation from the US authorities," acting Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain told UNB last night.

He could not say about the exact date of Mohiuddin's arrival in Dhaka. "What I can say is that he has not departed for Bangladesh today," he said.

A US diplomat told UNB that he had no reason to believe that he is coming today.

"He will be arrested on a pending warrant and be sent to jail soon after arrival," Home Secretary Abdul Karim told The Daily Star yesterday, adding that all necessary directives were given to law enforcement agencies.

Legal experts said after Mohiuddin's arrest his lawyers may petition for leave to appeal against the High Court verdict upholding his death sentence.

Mohiuddin, who was arrested at his Los Angeles residence on March 13.

Mohiuddin, who along with some other disgruntled army officers had assassinated Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family in a coup d'état on August 15, 1975, left the country soon after Awami League (AL) had come to power in 1996.

Led by Sheikh Hasina, one of Bangabandhu's two surviving daughters, the erstwhile AL government took initiatives to extradite the killers, but could not finish the job during its tenure. The process to bring them back froze after the BNP-led four-party alliance formed a new government in 2001.

Mohiuddin was tried in absentia by a trial court and two years later, along with some other ex-army personnel, was convicted of assassinating the country's founding father.

He has been sought by the Bangladesh government since the court on November 8, 1998 sentenced him and 14 other former and dismissed army men to death for the killings.

He was also sentenced to life in prison for aiding and abetting the killings of four other national leaders on November 3, 1975.

The verdict came 23 years after Bangabandhu had been brutally murdered along with 26 others including his wife, three sons, two daughters-in-law, his brother, close relatives, political associates and his security men in a pre-dawn attack.

Mohiuddin fled to the US on a visitor's visa and applied for permanent residency. But he was ordered to return to Bangladesh to face the criminal charges.

The High Court on April 30, 2001 upheld the death sentences of 12 including Major (retd) Mohiuddin among the convicted 14. Only four of the condemned 12 -- Lt Col Syed Farooq Rehman, Lt Col Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col Mohiuddin, and Major Bazlul Huda have been behind bars so far.

Among the rest, one died while six others are believed to be hiding in various countries including the US, Canada, and Libya.