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At least three Jamaat leaders have been detained from Thakurgaon, Cumilla and Shariatpur districts on allegations of carrying huge sums of money the day before parliamentary election.
The Islamic party headquarters dismissed the allegations as smear campaigns to malign its vote prospect.
Police said they seized around Tk 7.4 million from Thakurgaon district Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Belal Uddin Prodhan at Saidpur Airport in Nilphamari on Wednesday.
"After his detention, he was first taken to the Upazila Health Complex as he felt unwell," said Nilphamari Superintendent of Police (SP) Sheikh Zahidul Islam. Belal was later moved to Rangpur Medical College hospital.
A team from Bangladesh Army detained Belal along with the cash at the airport around 12:00 noon and later handed him over to police, said the SP.
The SP said Belal initially told police he was carrying more than Tk 5.0 million. The money was later counted under the supervision of an executive magistrate and found to be a total of Tk 7.4 million.
"He is now in police custody. We will interrogate him about the source of the money and purpose of use," he told reporters.
Speaking to the police, Belal claimed that he is a college teacher who also runs a garment business, and that the money came from his business.
The detention comes a day before the 13th National Parliamentary Election and Referendum, triggering widespread discussion on social media.
Earlier, Group Captain SM Ragib Samad, executive director of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), said the matter was reported to the airport customs authorities, but they confirmed there was no objection. "Additionally, there are no restrictions on carrying money on domestic routes." Jamaat-e-Islami described the detention of its Thakurgaon district Ameer along with a large sum of cash at Saidpur Airport as a "staged drama orchestrated by law-enforcement agencies."
In a statement, the party alleged that the incident was an attempt to tarnish its image and drag it into controversy ahead of the national elections.
Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair, assistant secretary-general of Jamaat and chief of its central publicity and media department, made the remarks at a press conference held at the party's central office in Dhaka's Moghbazar on Wednesday afternoon.
Zubair claimed that Belal had received a no-objection certificate from Group Captain Ragib Samad, executive director of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, while carrying the money from the airport in the morning.
"So, it is clear that this was a planned and ill-motivated move aimed at making Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its leaders appear questionable," Zubair said.
He also alleged that Jamaat leaders and activists were attacked and female activists harassed in different parts of the country. "It appears that a section of the administration has leaned to one side, for whatever reason, and is undermining the election environment by unfairly providing various facilities to one particular party."
Apart from this incident, locals in Cumilla's Muradnagar upazila detained a local Jamaat leader, Habibur Rahman Hilali, on allegations that he was distributing money to voters ahead of election-day. He was later handed over to police.
Habibur Rahman Hilali is the Ameer of the Dhamghor Union unit of Jamaat in Muradnagar upazila. Executive Magistrate of Muradnagar upazila Sakib Hassan Khan told The Financial Express that he went to the spot after being informed and recovered Tk 200,000 from Jamaat leaders' car.
However, Hilali denied the allegation, claiming that he was not carrying such an amount. He alleged that some activists of the BNP detained him, placed a bag of money in his car, and then handed him over to law-enforcement authorities.
The Executive Magistrate said that the accused, who was taken to the police station, would be released if he could provide a legitimate explanation for the source of the money.
Joint Forces in Shariatpur detained a local Jamaat leader, Golam Mostafa, during a special raid and recovered Tk 720,000 in cash. They also seized a laptop, a voter list, and other documents from his residence in Naria municipal area, said Officer in Charge in Naria Police Station Md Bahar Miah.
The OC said Golam Mostafa is directly involved in Jamaat politics. He added that an investigation was underway to determine whether the recovered money was intended to influence the election.
Meanwhile, EC secretariat's Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told the media that false news was prepared misquoting him about the Thakurgaon Jamaat leader's money.
An online news portal ran a story quoting the EC Senior Secretary as saying that carrying 'fifty million' doesn't matter.
Akhtar Ahmed said: "I didn't articulate this. Even I don't have such authority.
"I want to publicly tell you that I was misquoted."
According to bdnews24.com, The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has accused the Jamaat-e-Islami of buying votes with cash in a bid to block what it described as the "inevitable victory" of the Sheaf of Paddy in the parliamentary election.
The allegation came in the wake of the detention of the Thakurgaon district Jamaat chief at Nilphamari's Saidpur Airport on the eve of the election with a large sum of cash.
On Wednesday afternoon, BNP spokesperson Mahdi Amin said: "A group is making desperate attempts to create obstacles in the face of BNP's inevitable victory."
"We saw in the media this morning that police detained the Thakurgaon district Jamaat ameer at Saidpur Airport after he arrived from Dhaka, carrying more than Tk 5 million in cash," he said.
After counting, police said Tk 7.4 million was found in the bag of Jamaat leader Belal Uddin Pradhan after detention.
"At a time when all banks, financial institutions and business transactions are shut to prevent illegal financial dealings during the election, it is only natural that serious questions are being raised," Mahdi added.
"Where did a district-level top Jamaat leader get such a huge amount of money from, and for what purpose, and to whom was he planning to distribute it as he travelled from Dhaka to Thakurgaon on the eve of the election?"
Thakurgaon district Jamaat chief Belal was detained at Saidpur Airport on Wednesday with a bag of cash.
Saidpur Police chief Rezaul Karim said Tk 7.4 million was recovered from his possession.
Jamaat has described the incident as "staged", with party spokesperson Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair demanding his immediate release.
Mahdi said, "You don't need to be an expert to understand that such a large amount of money cannot be for business purposes when all business activities have been shut down for four consecutive days.
"This violation of the code of conduct clearly shows the moral and political bankruptcy of an isolated party.”
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