Mahbub Shahid Shisir, a foreign ministry officer on probation, may lose his job for shoplifting in the Netherlands capital, The Hague.
Published : 07 Apr 2015, 09:06 PM
Senior foreign ministry officials dealing the issue told bdnews24.com that they would take “serious action” against him in accordance with government rules.
“He might lose his job or his confirmation might be delayed. But we’ll take serious action,” said a senior official, preferring anonymity.
“We have already taken him off the Foreign Service Academy course,” he said.
Shisir, after passing civil engineering from Bangladesh’s top university, the Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET), joined foreign service in June 2012.
He, along with his nine other foreign office peers, was sent to the Netherlands for a short training at the Netherlands Institute for International Relations, Clingendael, in February.
During his stay there, Shisir was caught lifting a headphone from a shop.
He admitted to his crime and paid € 350 as penalty on his own.
The Dutch foreign ministry, however, wrote to the Bangladesh mission in The Hague, condemning his act of stealing.
It also urged the government to take action to prevent any recurrence.
According to that note, Shisir had told police that he followed several of his colleagues, who were successful in lifting items from The Hague shops.
Shisir, however, denied this in his version to the foreign ministry.
“He told us that he had seen somebody (stranger) lifting items by removing the security tag. Maybe, his version has been misinterpreted (by The Hague police)”, said a senior official.
“We have talked with his other colleagues and none of them were in that shop with him,” he said.
Shisir is the only child of his parents. His father was a veterinary officer.
However, a senior official at the foreign ministry said they were also worried about his personal life.
“He was different from others even quite early. He is suffering from a kind of mental health problem. We have learnt that he has been on medication for long,” said an official, who taught him at the Foreign Service Academy.
“Being a meritorious student, he passed the BCS foreign service examination. He was also doing well in theory at the Academy. But he was a bit aloof,” he said.