Police have arrested three members of the Sazzad gang for their alleged involvement in a shooting at the residence of Smart Group Chairman Mostafizur Rahman in Chattogram, recovering three firearms including a revolver looted from a police station.
Chattogram Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner (Traffic) and Additional Charge (Administration and Finance) Wahidul Haque Chowdhury disclosed the information at a press briefing at the CMP Media Centre on Tuesday night.
The arrests were made during an operation based on intelligence information late Monday night.
Among those detained is Mohammad Abdul Kaiyum Chowdhury alias Rimon, a fugitive convict sentenced to life imprisonment in the sensational eight-murder case of 2000.
The other two arrested suspects are Monir and Sayem.
Police said the shooting took place at around 6:30 am on 28 February at the residence of the businessman in the Chandanpura area of the port city.
The businessman claimed that fugitive criminal Sazzad, who is believed to be abroad, had been demanding extortion from him for a long time.
Sazzad first demanded Tk10 crore and later reduced the demand to Tk5 crore, he said.
When the money was not paid, gunmen opened fire at the house on 2 January.
About 20 days before the latest attack, Sazzad allegedly sent a WhatsApp message reading “wait and see”, according to the businessman.
CCTV footage from the day of the incident showed four masked men approaching the house carrying firearms and opening fire towards the building.
Police said analysis of the footage indicated that one of the attackers carried two pistols in both hands, while the others fired from a sub-machine gun (SMG), a Chinese rifle and a shotgun.
At the briefing, Wahidul Haque Chowdhury said all three arrested suspects were directly involved in the attack.
Chawkbazar Police Station officers first arrested Rimon and recovered a foreign-made revolver and nine rounds of bullets looted from Pahartali Police Station, based on his information.
Following Rimon’s confession, police arrested Monir from the Bayezid Bostami area under Panchlaish Police Station and recovered a Brazilian Taurus 9mm pistol and a motorcycle looted from Double Mooring Police Station.
Based on Monir’s information, police arrested Sayem and later recovered an SMG, two magazines and 50 rounds of bullets from the Khulshi area.
Police said Sayem had purchased the weapons from hill-based criminal groups.
According to investigators, the arrested suspects operated under the instructions of top criminal Boro Sazzad, who is believed to be staying in Dubai.
Police described Rimon as the main coordinator of the gang in the city.
Investigators also recovered a video from Rimon’s possession showing new members taking an oath of allegiance to the gang while holding the Holy Quran.
The video would be sent to Sazzad in Dubai to confirm membership, and a trusted existing member had to act as guarantor during the recruitment process, police said.
For security reasons, the face of the person taking the oath was blurred in the video.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the firearms recovered from the suspects were used in the shooting at the businessman’s house, although police said ballistic tests will confirm the claim.
Wahidul Haque Chowdhury said Interpol has issued a red notice against Sazzad.
The arrested suspects have multiple cases filed against them at different police stations in the city on charges of murder, robbery and arms offences.
Police said operations will continue to arrest other fugitives and recover the remaining weapons.
In a separate drive during the holy month of Ramadan, a special team of the Detective Branch conducted an operation under Kotwali Police Station and detained three professional snatchers — Maruf Hossain Tushar, Babu and Mehedi Hasan.
Police records show Babu has six cases filed against him in different CMP police stations, while Maruf faces two cases and Mehedi six cases.
