Top criminal Masud caught in India
Mollah Masud, a top Bangladeshi criminal for whom Interpol issued red notice, has been arrested in India.
The Criminal Investigation Department of West Bengal arrested Masud on February 8 in a case filed with Barrackpore Police Station under Section 14 of Foreigners Act relating to illegal stay in the country.
“Procedure to bring him back is underway,” said a press release of Bangladesh Police yesterday as Interpol's New Delhi office informed them about the arrest.
Born in Jhalakathi, Masud was the second-in-command of Moghbazar-based “seven star” group led by Subrata Bain. He came to the limelight after several murders in 1992-93.
There are at least eight cases filed against him for murder, possessing illegal firearms and extortion, said Officer-in-Charge Mashiur Rahman of Ramna Police Station.
Masud fled to India in 2001 as Dhaka Metropolitan Police put him on a list of 23 most-wanted criminals and announced bounty for his capture. He, however, sneaked back into the country on several occasions until 2004.
CID investigators in 2004 implicated him in the August 21 grenade blast based on a fabricated statement of a petty criminal named Joj Mia, police sources say.
Subrata Bain and another top criminal named Mukul were also made accused in the grenade attacks cases. Police investigation later found the accusations false.
Staying reportedly in Nadia district of West Bengal, Masud ran poultry and fishery business. He married an Indian girl sometime between 2005 and 2006 and many top criminals from Dhaka attended his wedding party, said sources.
Apart from Masud, a number of other most-wanted Bangladeshi criminals were hiding in India. Of them, Subrata Bain, Khandakar Tanveer Islam Joy and Haris Ahmed Haris have already been arrested by Indian police.
Sources say some fugitives, including Shahadat Hossain, are still running underworld criminal activities in Dhaka from India. They get huge sums collected through extortion by their accomplices here.
Comments