An international abduction ring has been operating between Bangladesh and Malaysia. They abduct Bangladeshi businessmen traveling to Malaysia and extract ransom in exchange for their release.
A Dhaka-based businessman, Khayez Ahmed, was abducted in Malaysia on 7 August. He was released 13 days later, paying ransom of Tk 28 lakh. Rapid Action Battalion detained seven members of the abduction ring in Bangladesh.
Kahyez Ahmed is one of the pioneering entrepreneurs of plastic doors in Bangladesh. He has a branch office of Super Door in Malaysia too.
He was abducted by a gang led by Lokman, from Jhalakathi in Bangladesh. Other members of the gang are two Bangladeshis, Fakhruddin (Brahmanbaria) and Sharif (Munshiganj), and some Malaysians. The gang operates in the Shah Alam and Klang areas near the Malaysian capital city.
Khayez Ahmed told Prothom Alo that he was abducted from in front of his office as he came out for breakfast. A taxicab pulled up in front of him and three people picked up him by force.
The abductors blindfolded him, and confined him in a room on the third floor of a five-story building. The gang leader Haji Lokman demanded Tk 1 crore in ransom to him.
Khayez Ahmed said, “I told them I had not that much money to give them. They said they had information that I sold a piece of land in the airport police station area in Dhaka for Tk 5 crore from which I received Tk 2 crore.”
He said he had a primary agreement to sell a piece of land to a housing company. But he changed his mind after he received forgery allegations against the company. The Malaysia-based gang somehow came to know the information of the agreement.
Khayez Ahmed said, “I was beaten up for the ransom, and my life was threatened. I contacted my family over phone.” On August 12, his son Faisal Mahmud handed over Tk 13 lakh to Lokman’s wife Shammi Akhtar at a prescribed place at Chasara in Narayanganj.
Meanwhile, his family informed the RAB of the matter, and his other son flew to Malaysia on the next day of the abduction, and lodged a complaint with the Sri Muda police station of Shah Alam city.
Khayez Ahmed guessed that the gang had connection with the Malay police, and thus they came to know about the complaint and warned of dire consequences. On 15 August, he was shifted to a nearby hotel.
He was finally freed on 18 August after Tk 15 lakh more was paid to the abductors. He was left at an open place near the hotel. He returned to Bangladesh the next day.
RAB conducted investigation into the incident, and arrested seven people, including Lokman’s wife, from Narayanganj, Brahmanbaria and Munshiganj.
They are Shakila Akhtar, Aleya Begum, Abul Kalam Azad, Al Amin Asif, Abdullah, Mahmuda Parvin and Awlad Hossain.
RAB recovered Tk 15 lakh in their possession, said RAB-11 commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Anwar Latif Khan.
A case was filed with Fatulla police station in this connection. Investigation officer sub-inspector Nazmul Alam said he sought remand for the accused, but the court rejected his appeal twice.
The court asked him to interrogate the accused at the jail gate. But it is difficult to interrogate at jail gate as they are members of a gang backed by high-ups, said a source in the police.
