Police hunt for three masked men who took ex-diplomat Maroof's laptop from his house

Police are now looking for three young men who came to Maroof Zaman's Dhanmondi residence to take his laptop after the former diplomat had left home for the airport.

Quoting the house help, Maroof's sister Shahrina Kamal told bdnews24.com that about an hour after his brother had left the house, he reportedly phoned the maid to hand over the laptop when someone would knock the door.

Shahrina and Maroof live in the same apartment complex at Road 9A in Dhanmondi.

Dhanmondi Police Station OC Md Abdul Latif told bdnews24.com that police had collected the video footage from the building.

"In the footage, three young men in monkey cap and their faces covered can be seen entering the building and leave after a while," the OC said adding "they are yet to identify the youths."

Maroof Zaman

According to the house help, the three stockily built men took away a laptop, a computer CPU, a camera and a smartphone.

A former ambassador to Vietnam, Maroof Zaman went missing on Monday after he left home for the airport around 6pm to pick up his daughter Samiha Zaman who was returning from Belgium after visiting her sister.

When his daughter could not find her father at the airport, she phoned her uncle and reached home. They filed the GD with police next morning reporting his disappearance.

Single parent Maroof has been living with his daughter, and two house helps on the third floor of the six-storey Dhanmondi house that he inherited from the family. His elder sister Shahrina and younger brother Rifat Zaman live in the same building.

Police found his car at a location in Kurhil 300-ft road toward Purbachal Monday night but could not trace the missing diplomat.

According to his sister, police using tracking devices identified Maroof's last location at Dakkhinkhan; since then his mobile phone has lost signal.

Neither the family nor police have any clue about the reason for his disappearance.

Brother Rifat said Maroof was upset about the series of family losses in 2012 when their mother died in April 2012, and Maroof's wife passed away in December the same year. They lost their father in the following year.

But, this has nothing to do with his disappearance. He was not involved in any political activities either.

About a dozen people including five politicians, a teacher, a journalist, a priest and a businessman, have gone missing in four months since August, of which four were rescued or came back.

Businessman Aniruddha Roy returned home while police found Natore priest Walter William Rosario.

Maroof Zaman represented Bangladesh as ambassador in Vietnam and Qatar. In 2013, he retired from the civil service as additional secretary.

Rifat said Maroof joined Bangladesh Army’s signal corps as a captain in 1977 but could not continue in the job because of health issues.

From the army, he was deputed to the foreign service in 1982 and was sent to Bangladesh High Commission in London as first secretary.

According to his brother, Maroof was, until recently an additional director general of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies or BIISS.