One held over militants’ escape

The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit has arrested one person for his alleged involvement in snatching away two death-row convict militants from police custody.

The arrestee is Mehedi Hasan Omi alias Rafi.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s media cell in a text confirmed the matter and said they would come up with details at a press conference today.

Some officials said that Mehedi, who is on bail, went to the Dhaka court on November 20 to appear in a case along with 12 other accused including the two escapees to appear in a case.

Police said Mehedi and Edi Amin left the Dhaka court after the hearing as they were on bail. At that time, prison police move towards the court lock-up with Md Abu Siddique Sohel, Moinul Hasan Shamim, Abdus Sabur and Arafat Rahman.

Minutes after, some militants attacked the police at the court’s main entrance and sprayed chemicals on their faces and then left the scene along with Sohel and Moinul on a motorbike.

Police filed a case narrating the happenings and included Mehedi as one of the accused. Hailing from Sylhet, Mehedi is a member of the military wing of Ansar al-Islam. He also participated in blogger Nazimuddin Samad’s killing mission, police added.