Housing trader alleges three-day secret detention two months after bail; DB says he is an arms dealer

Two months after his release on bail, a businessman from Mirpur has alleged that he was picked up by force and kept in secret detention at a Detective Branch (DB) office for three days, without being allowed to contact his family.

The businessman is Md Shamim Khan, 49, who describes himself as a housing trader. He made the allegation at a press conference held with the help of Mir Ahmad Bin Kasem, the member of parliament for Dhaka-14.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Branch says Shamim Khan was arrested with a foreign-made weapon and bullets, and was sent to court within the stipulated time. No secret detention took place, the DB says.

The DB further claims Shamim Khan has been running an arms trade under the shelter of a top Mirpur criminal. He was arrested after long surveillance, and there may be a different motive behind raising the allegation two months after his release, the DB says.

The press conference was held at a house in the Rupnagar area of Mirpur at around 12 noon on Monday. Mir Ahmad Bin Kasem and Shamim Khan's wife, Arbi Sultana, spoke at the event.

Shamim Khan said a DB Mirpur division team picked him up by force between 8pm and 8:30pm on 26 August, from beside a private bank near his office in the South Bishil area of Mirpur.

He said he was blindfolded at the DB office and kept there for three days, threatened with death among other things, and not allowed to contact his family. During the detention, DB officers questioned him about his business and asked whether he did any illegal business.

Shamim Khan further said that after three days in detention, he was produced in court in an arms case. Although he was picked up from in front of a bank in Mirpur, the case says he was arrested from the Beribadh area.

The court sent him to jail, and he was released on 26 September, about a month later. He is the owner of Muskan Real Estate and has long been involved in the housing business, including buying and selling land.

He also said that when Saiful Islam Nirab was president of Jubo Dal, he was a member of Dhaka Metropolitan North Jubo Dal. He is no longer involved in politics, and he said he does not know why he was detained.

At the press conference, local MP Mir Ahmad Bin Kasem asked whether the culture of the fascist era — picking people up, blindfolding and detaining them, cutting off contact with their families and denying the arrest — was returning.

He further said a person was being subjected to secret detention, torture and death threats by using the state machinery over a business dispute. If this incident is not properly judged, such incidents will keep happening, and many others like him will one day disappear into the dark, he said.

Mohammad Rakib Khan, deputy commissioner of the DB's Mirpur division, told Prothom Alo that Shamim Khan was not subjected to secret detention. He has long been involved in the arms trade, and the DB has evidence of his contact with top underworld criminals, he said.

Rakib Khan further said he was not arrested on 26 August, but at dawn on 28 August, from the Mirpur Beribadh area with a foreign pistol and two bullets. He was sent to court within the stipulated time after his arrest, and there was no breach of the law, he said.

The DB officer also said the investigation into Shamim Khan's arms case is ongoing and the investigation report will be submitted soon. There is also a case against him over the anti-discrimination student movement, and joint forces had arrested him after 5 August on charges of terrorist activity. He could have complained earlier, and there may be a different motive behind raising the question nearly two months later, he said.