Dismissed army officer among 6 arrested in Chattogram kidnapping
Photo: Courtesy
District Detective Branch (DB) rescued the abducted businessman and arrested six people, including a dismissed army officer.
Chattogram District Superintendent of Police Md Masud Alam confirmed the matter. DB and police jointly conducted operation at Bus Terminal, Banglabazar, and Kortbazar areas of Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday and arrested them. The abducted businessman was named Mohammad Ehsan.
Among those arrested are dismissed army officer Suman Munshi, Mizanur Rahman, Zainal Uddin, Md Abbas Uddin, Solim alias Salim, and Delowar Hossain.
Based on information provided by them, Ehsan was rescued early Wednesday morning from an area adjacent to Leda (Alikhali) Rohingya Camp-25 in Teknaf.
According to the police, on 17 October around 8:30 pm, Ehsan was sitting in his shop at Prembazar in Banshkhali, Chattogram. At that time, several individuals wearing black caps and masks entered the shop. Identifying themselves as SRB members, they confirmed Ehsan’s identity by showing a picture of his twin brother. Then Ehsan’s hands were handcuffed behind his back, and he was dragged out of the shop.
This was captured on CCTV footage. After being taken out of the shop, Ehsan was initially put into a CNG-powered autorickshaw. Later, changing vehicles, he was taken to Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar.
Nearly 3 hours after the abduction, starting from 11:40 pm, calls were made using various VoIP numbers to Ehsan’s wife and the shop manager, demanding a ransom of Tk 20 lakh. Threats of murder were also made if the money was not paid.
Ehsan’s cousin Jasim Uddin said after contacting the administration, they learned that those who took him under the guise of SRB were not genuine SRB members. A case was filed at Banshkhali Police Station.
Masud said, “We identified the kidnappers. The mastermind of the gang is a dismissed army member who, while in prison, established connections with various criminals to form this fake SRB syndicate.”
He added that Abbas and Delowar monitored the movements of potential victims and passed information to Suman. Suman then led the team to execute abductions under fake identities, detain victims in Rohingya camps, and extract ransom. Seized items include a private car, five black SRB caps, two fake identity cards, and a pair of handcuffs.
Police noted that Suman faces 13 cases under mugging, robbery, and arms acts. There are three cases against Zainal, two cases against Salim, and one case against Abbas.
