Bangladesh law enforcers arrest 7 members of transnational kidnapping gang
Rab busts the gang after their cohorts abducted Bangladeshi businessman in Malaysia, then realised ransom from his family
The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested seven members of a transnational gang that abducted a Bangladeshi businessman in Malaysia in July and released him on Tuesday after realising Tk 28 lakh in ransom.
Tk 14 lakh has been recovered from the seven held in Narayanganj, Munshiganj and Brahmanbaria on Wednesday and Thursday, Rab-11 Commanding Officer Lt Col Anwar Latif Khan said at a press conference in the elite force's Narayanganj unit office yesterday.
However, three main accused -- Lokman Hossain, Fakruddin Ali Ahmed Jony and Md Sharif -- were yet to be arrested as they were in Malaysia, said the Rab official.
The arrestees include Lokman's wife Shakila Akter; his sister Alia Begum, her husband Abul Kalam Azad and their son Al Amin Asif; Jony's mother Mahmud Parvin; hundi trader Awlad Hossain; and Alia's associate Abdullah.
Six passports, nine mobile phones, 11 SIM cards, and some credit cards and cheque books were seized from them, the Rab claimed.
Fayez Ahmed of the capital's Dakkhin Khan area was kidnapped from a Kuala Lumpur road on July 23 while he was there on a business trip.
"Seventeen days after the abduction, the kidnappers contacted Fayez's family in Bangladesh and demanded Tk 1 crore in ransom," the Rab-11 CO claimed.
The family then filed a general diary with Dakkhin Khan Police Station August 9. But out of fear for his life, they paid Tk 13 lakh to Shakila in Narayanganj Railgate-2 area the same day.
The kidnappers mounted pressure on the family for another Tk 50 lakh and they again paid Tk 15 lakh to Abdullah's bank account a few days later.
In the meantime, Saddam Hossain, son of abducted Fayez, last week wrote to Bangladesh High Commission in Kula Lumpur for measures to rescue his father.
"We received the letter and wrote to the Malaysian authorities to rescue the businessman," First Secretary MSK Shaheen of the Bangladesh mission told The Daily Star by phone yesterday.
But anything significant happened through the diplomatic channels, the kidnappers on Tuesday released Fayez Ahmed in Malaysia and he returned to Dhaka the next day, said Lt Col Anwar.
Fayez is now undergoing at treatment as he was allegedly tortured by the kidnappers during his 26 days of captivity.
Neither the victim nor any of his family members could be contacted immediately.