Murder convict is arrested in Chattogram after two decades

Syed Ahmed, a murder convict, had been giving law enforcers in Chattogram the slip for two decades. He managed to cloak his identity by forging two ID cards, which he used to work as a cook at shrines and a security guard.

But ultimately, all his cunning proved in vain, reports bdnews24.com.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Ahmed, one of the 10 convicts who were given capital punishment in the Jane Alam murder case two decades ago, on Thursday.

Ahmed, a resident of Amirabad in Lohagara Upazila, is 60 years old now. The elite police unit apprehended him after a raid in the Akbar Shah area, RAB-7 Director Lt Col MA Yusuf said.

"Businessperson Alam and his younger brother Mahmudul Haque, resident of Lohagara Upazila, were killed between November 2001 and March 2002 over a land dispute. Ahmed was named in both murder cases”.

A court later sentenced 12 people, including Ahmed, to death and eight others to life in prison in 2007. The High Court upheld the death sentences of 10 people, including Ahmed, afterwards.

"Ahmed went into hiding after killing Alam. He stopped contacting his family and stayed in coastal areas and later in Sitakunda for some days. He made two fake identity cards to conceal his real identity," Yusuf said.

"Ahmed started to work under 'Moshiur', an influential local leader in a Sitakunda jungle in Salimpur. He used to work as a chef at shrines. Later, he worked as a guard at a building in the Akbar Shah area."

He went into hiding in Banshkhali Upazila after killing Mahmudul Haque. Later, he joined a gang of sea robbers. "He returned home and took part in the plot to murder Alam four months after joining the gang."

Alam was one of the key witnesses in the murder case of his younger brother. The criminals plotted to murder Alam to stop the case and occupy his property, the RAB official said.