YouTuber Elias Hossain arrested in New York over extortion attempt

Police in New York have arrested expatriate Bangladeshi YouTuber Elias Hossain on charges related to threatening and attempting to extort money from a person.

Police said they arrested the controversial former journalist at Staten Island in New York City on Sunday morning following a wanted notice of the 113th Precinct of New York Police Department.

He is scheduled to be produced in Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday, reports bdnews24.com.

Police did not reveal the name of the person who was allegedly threatened by Elias, but local media in Bangladesh identified him as Jacob Milton in reports from their correspondents in the US.

This comes after Elias posted offensive videos about Milton’s sister Nira Rabbani, a joint convenor of the BNP’s overseas unit of New York State and Milton’s , and her daughter Prema Rabbani.

In a case over the videos, NYPD issued a Desk Appearance Ticket or DAT to Elias after he surrendered on Feb 1.

DAT is a written order that is issued by the police, which requires a person to appear in criminal court on a specific date and time.

Elias was ordered to appear in the court on Feb 21, but police launched a search operation for him as he continued to post videos with offensive remarks about Nira and Prema.

Police had earlier arrested Elias in November 2022 for behaving roughly with Nira.

A cyber tribunal in Bangladesh ordered Elias’ arrest and the attachment of his property last year in a case for spreading false information about the investigation into the murder of Mahmuda Hossain Mitu, wife of former superintendent of police Babul Akter.

Banaj Mumar Majumder, chief of the Police Bureau of Investigation, sued Elias for his alleged attempt to destroy religious harmony, spread hatred between the Hindus and Muslims, tarnish the image of the police and the PBI chief, and damage Bangladesh’s relations with India.