DB arrests retired Major Hafiz

The Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has detained Major (retd) Khandaker Abdul Hafiz of the Bangladesh Army from the capital’s Banani area. He was arrested late on Saturday night on allegations of activities against state security and involvement in the conspiracy behind the BDR killings.

Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, additional police commissioner of the DB, confirmed the arrest on Sunday morning (1 November). He said Hafiz has been kept in DB custody and that the process of taking further legal steps against him is under way.

According to police sources, a raid in Banani on Saturday night led to his arrest. He was then taken to the DB office on Minto Road, where he is being questioned on various matters.

Law enforcers allege that he is linked to a number of activities posing a threat to national security. He also faces allegations of involvement in planning and conspiring the 2009 BDR massacre, and of maintaining contact and collusion with those implicated in the incident.

However, no details have yet been released on Hafiz’s response to these allegations or on the specific case under which his arrest has been shown.

During the mutiny at the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters in Dhaka’s Pilkhana on 25 and 26 February 2009, 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed. Judicial and investigative proceedings over the massacre, one of the most widely discussed incidents in Bangladesh’s history, have continued for a long time.