Death-row convict Abu Mokarram, who escaped from Kashimpur jail, arrested in Sonargaon

Abu Mokarram (44), a death-row convict in a murder case who escaped from Kashimpur High-Security Central Jail in Gazipur, has been arrested in Sonargaon, Narayanganj, by the Special Response Battalion (SRB-11).

He was arrested on Tuesday night (3 November) during an operation at the Meghna Toll Plaza area in Sonargaon on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. The SRB announced the arrest in a press release on Wednesday afternoon.

Abu Mokarram is a resident of Uttar Barkal village under Chandanaish police station in Chattogram. The press release said the process of handing him over to the relevant police station for further legal action was under way.

According to the release, Mokarram is a death-row convict in a murder case under Chandanaish police station in Chattogram. He had been held at Kashimpur High-Security Central Jail since 9 July 2013.

The release said he escaped with other prisoners during the riot, vandalism and arson at the jail on 6 August 2024.

The SRB said that, in the situation following the political change on 5 August 2024, prisoners banded together on the morning of 6 August and began rioting and setting fires inside the jail, at one point taking prison guards hostage.

The release added that the prisoners then climbed over the jail's boundary wall using a ladder made from a broken electric pillar. The jail authorities filed a case over the incident at Konabari police station in Gazipur.

After escaping, Mokarram used various disguises to evade arrest and hid temporarily in different places across the country while concealing his identity, the SRB said.

His location was later identified through SRB-11 intelligence surveillance and modern technology, and he was arrested in the operation at the Meghna Toll Plaza area.