Police raid Dhaka hotels to catch escaped death-row militants

Police announced a 15-day drive targeting hotels across Bangladesh

Police have raided hotels and messes in Dhaka’s Banani to catch two death-row militants who escaped from the court area and their associates.

Nure Azam Mia, chief of Banani Police Station, said the drive on Saturday night was triggered by information that the escaped militants and their associates were staying in the Kakoli area.

Hayatul Islam Khan, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said they searched the hotels and messes in Motijheel. “The operation aims to catch militants.”

No one was arrested after the drive was launched in Banani at 8pm and in Motijheel at 9pm.

After the drive in Banani ended, DMP Deputy Commission Abdul Ahad said: “We couldn’t find any [militants] during the nearly three-hour drive. But we’ll carry out drives whenever we get some information.”

The Police Headquarters had earlier announced 15-day operations in hotels across Bangladesh to ensure security ahead of Dec 16 Victory Day.

On Nov 20, militants Moinul Hasan Shamim alias Samir and Abu Siddique Sohel alias Shakib were snatched from police custody on their way back to a lockup after testifying in a case.

Shamim and Sohel, both leaders of the outlawed militant outfit Ansar Al Islam, were sentenced to death over their involvement in the killings of writer-blogger Avijit Roy and publisher Faysal Arefin Dipan.

In the wake of the incident, a case was filed, while Dhaka Metropolitan Police formed a five-member probe committee and announced a Tk 2 million reward for information leading to the capture of the escaped convicts. A red alert was also issued across the country.