Police no help in search of missing Tanvir Hassan Zoha, family says

Police are not helping in the search for Tanvir Hassan Zoha who is missing following the theft of Bangladesh Bank reserves from the US account, his family says.

Zoha identified himself as the ICT Division’s cyber security specialist while speaking to the media in the wake of the massive cyber attack but the government body soon denied any links with him.  

His family said he has been missing since Wednesday night. 

“I spoke to him last at around 11:30 last night. He said he was coming home. But his phone has been switched off since midnight,” his wife, Dr Kamrun Nahar, told bdnews24.com on Thursday.

‘Yamin’, a friend of Zoha, said they were both ‘picked up’ by unknown men who dropped him off before leaving with Zoha. 

Tanvir Hassan Zoha

“Yamin came at around 2pm and told us that Zoha asked him to come to the cantonment area. Then they both got on a CNG auto-rickshaw to come home,” said Zoha’s uncle, Mahbubul Alam, a former director general of state-owned Bangladesh Television. 

“But their auto-rickshaw suddenly stopped and a jeep drove in front of them. Before they knew anything they were separated. A car then dropped Yamin off at Manik Miah Avenue.” 

Zoha’s family went to Kalabagan Police Station but they were asked to go to Kafrul Police Station instead. When they did, Kafrul police said they should go to Cantonment Police Station. 

“They then asked us to go back to Kafrul Police station once we were there. When we did, they asked us to go to Bhasantek Police Station. But we were tired of not receiving any help so we didn’t go to Bhasantek,” said Zoha’s uncle.     

Law-enforcing agencies have not commented on Zoha’s disappearance but Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, speaking to reporters on Thursday afternoon, said, “Police have been questioning people who they believe are suspects.” 

When asked if Zoha have been detained, he said, “I can’t say that right now. He might have been arrested for the investigation. But I don’t know.” 

Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have been investigating the theft but was yet to disclose anything about Zoha. 

The transfer of $81 million from the Bangladesh Bank account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York by hackers drew international media attention after the Philippine Daily Inquirer broke the news on Feb 29.

Bangladesh Bank officials learnt of the heist almost immediately but withheld the information for about a month.

Zoha’s wife said they spoke to multiple individuals within the security forces but they have not contacted them with information. 

“We visited the site after they talked to us … Bhasantek police has jurisdiction of that area. That’s why they were told to go there,” said Kafrul Police Station OC Md Shamim Hossain.

Cantonment Police Station OC Atikur Rahman said no one filed a complaint with them, while Bhasantek Police Station OC Nazrul Islam said, “Kafrul police OC called me about this. But no one came to the station with any complaint about abduction.” 

“If someone comes to us we can decide which police station has jurisdiction after seeing the site. Then we’ll do what is necessary.” 

Zoha in an earlier comment to bdnews24.com said he was working as ‘shadow investigator’ with a detective agency looking into the theft. 

He did not mention the agency’s name, neither did anyone admit to working with him. 

Family members who were at Zoha’s Kalabagan home on Thursday said he has worked with every government intelligence agency in the country.

“He had regular contacts with various detective agencies he had been helping especially on cyber crimes issues for the sake of his country,” said his uncle Alam.