Published : 23 Aug 2026, 09:18 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:35 AM
Police are investigating a series of extortion threats sent to foreign embassies and government offices in Dhaka, while ruling out links to a separate gang accused of targeting wealthy individuals and professionals.
Detective Branch Additional Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam said law enforcement is treating the embassy threats “seriously” and hoped to identify those responsible.
“We are working on it. Let’s see… We have assured you that we take any incident seriously. We are hopeful that we will uncover this too and bring those behind it to justice.”
Shafiqul’s remarks came in response to a question from the media at a press conference at the DMP Media Centre on Sunday.
He also spoke about an arrest in connection with the attack on Prof Md Asadur Rahman, the head of Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s Ear, Nose and Throat Department.
When asked if the group that threatened the doctor and the one that had threatened various embassies in Dhaka were the same, Dhaka DB chief Shafiqul said: "They are two different groups."
Regarding the threats at the embassies, he said: "We brought in about three to four people for questioning based on the bkash numbers that they gave by mail. For your information, I can tell you that they do not know anything. The bkash numbers they sent by mail belong to innocent people and they don’t know anything about it.”
He said such threats had been made at three or four embassies and at a few government offices as well. "This is out of hostility, as well as an intentional effort to tarnish the image of the country. To actually intimidate the ambassadors who are there. I would say that it is an act against the nation."
Previously, Shafiqul had spoken about the arrest of two people on Saturday in connection with the attack on Prof Asadur.
The arrestees are Sunny Saha, 38, and Fatin Israq Labib, 20. Police have described Sunny as the “ringleader” of the gang.
On Aug 17, 55-year-old doctor Asadur was attacked around 11pm after leaving his chambers at the Popular Diagnostic Centre in Dhaka’s Shantinagar and getting into an auto-rickshaw.
He was hit on the head, face, and eyes. Asadur was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with injuries. He is still undergoing treatment there.
Police went to the scene and arrested a man named Jibon aka Adil, at the time of the incident.
In a case filed by Asadur at Paltan Police Station, it is alleged that extortionists had demanded $15,000 from him a few days before the incident.
As part of the investigation, a man named Ivan was arrested in Lakshmipur. Jiban and Ivan are currently under arrest and in jail.
On Saturday, two others were arrested. Sunny Saha was arrested from Shanir Akhra in Jatrabari and Labib from Khilkhet’s Nikunja area.
Shafiqul said, “Ivan confessed during extensive interrogation that they are part of a gang. The gang targets various wealthy individuals and big business people in the country, collects their addresses and demands large sums of money. Based on the information provided by Ivan, we arrested Sunny and Labib. This Sunny is the main mastermind of the gang.”
The gang had allegedly stopped a car on Dhanmondi Road No. 4 on Jul 27, threatened and beat up AKM Aminul Hoque, a professor of internal medicine at Anwer Khan Modern Medical Hospital. A general diary was filed over this incident at Dhanmondi Police Station.
Regarding Sunny, DB chief Shafiqul said: “He was in Singapore on a work visa from 2022 to 2025. He met a person there. Based on his testimony, they got involved in the Hundi business, and Sunny was cheated of about Tk 50 million in various ways through that partner.”
Sunny returned home and began living in the Bashundhara area. He was desperate and looking for his former partner. Shafiqul said he formed the gang through the connections he made to “cover his losses”.
Sunny said the gang aimed to collect the names and addresses, car numbers, and family biodata of various businessmen and well-established people in society, intimidate them, and demand money through extortion.
“In this way, they formed a gang of seven people. Our two doctors are the victims of this gang. When we arrested Sunny and Labib yesterday, a knife and a sword they used for intimidation were seized in their possession. A case has also been filed against them under the Arms Act.”
Shafiqul added, “There are three to four other people involved in this gang. They are being monitored by our intelligence surveillance. We will arrest them soon and bring them to book.”
Asked about their other crimes, Shafiqul said the gang had successfully “carried out a couple of small jobs”.
"In those incidents, they took money, not dollars. However, no case has been filed against them at any other police station yet."
