Killings of AL leader, student: Key accused to be brought back from Oman today
A police team is scheduled to reach Dhaka from Oman in the morning today with Sumon Shikder Musa, a key suspect of the murders of a city Awami League leader and a college student in late March.
It was his phone calls that led the royal Oman police to Musa, said a top official of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
The 43-year-old suspect made several calls to some businessmen close to the slain AL leader Jahidul Islam Tipu and asked them for money early last month.
This let the law enforcers in Dhaka know that he made the calls from Oman where he entered from the UAE on May 8, said a top DMP official.
The Bangladesh chapter of Interpol then gave the phone number to its counterpart in Oman and informed it about the matter. "Tracking his number, Oman police arrested him on May 12," said the official, wishing anonymity.
Acknowledging Musa's arrest, the Interpol desk of Oman police (National Central Bureau, Muscat) wrote to NCB, Dhaka to take back Musa, prompting the Police Headquarters to send a three-member team, headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner (DB Motijheel) Shahidur Rahman, to the Western Asian country.
It will cost Bangladesh police about Tk 5.8 lakh in air tickets and other expenses to bring him back home, said the official.
Contacted, Deputy Commissioner (DB Motijheel) Rifat Ahmed Shamim said, "Musa is definitely a key suspect in the Tipu murder case."
Another official of DB Motijheel recently said, "We are expecting to make a major progress in the investigation once we interrogate Musa."
Another suspect named Masum Mohammad alias Akash earlier said in his confession that he was the one who shot indiscriminately at Tipu and Musa coordinated the killing.
A detective then said Musa supplied the firearm that was used to kill Tipu.
On March 24, Tipu, 55, former general secretary of Motijheel AL, was returning home in his microbus from his restaurant in Motijheel AGB Colony area. The vehicle was at a traffic light in Shahjahanpur when attackers arrived at the scene on a motorcycle and opened fire.
Samia Afnan Jamal Prity, 22, a college student who happened to be in a rickshaw next to the vehicle, also got shot. Tipu and Prity were declared dead after being taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Law enforcers are yet to recover the firearm and the motorcycle used in the attack. Shamim, the suspect who was riding the motorcycle, has since been on the run.
Musa, who is from Anwara, Chattogram, is an accused in 11 cases, including the ones filed for murders and possession of illegal firearms. He was convicted in one of the cases, a detective said earlier.
But he managed to leave the country for Dubai on March 12 through the Dhaka airport right before the immigration police that has a criminal database.
An investigator said Musa gave Akash and Shamim the firearm and left the country 12 days before the attack. He maintained communication from abroad.