Bangladesh Nationalist Party joint secretary general Aslam Chowdhury was arrested at Khilkhet in the capital Sunday evening, hours after the government imposed a ban on his travelling abroad over an alleged meeting with an agent of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
‘Aslam along with his two associates were arrested by a team of detective branch at Khilkhet about 7:00pm’, Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner [media] Maruf Hossain Sorder
told New Age.
DMP joint commissioner [detective branch] Abdul Baten said Aslam and his associates were taken to the DB office at Minto Road.
They would be produced before court on Monday, he said.
Baten, however, could not name the associates but said one of them was his car’s driver.
Earlier on the day, Chittagong Metropolitan Police commissioner Iqbal Bahar said that Aslam would be arrested wherever he would be found.
A travel ban was imposed on Aslam so that he could not leave the country, he said at a press conference at his office.
‘The ban was imposed on Aslam for carrying out alleged anti-state activities in a meeting with a foreign politician recently’, he said.
The newly elected BNP joint secretary general came to light over an alleged meeting with Israel’s ruling Likud Party leader Mendi N Safadi in India early this month.
State minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam said recently that the government had evidence that the BNP was trying to come to power by using the Israeli intelligence force Mossad.
‘It is a big crime… if the government puts together all the evidence, it would be good enough to ban the BNP,’ he said.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir denied ‘ever having any relation with Israel’ and said that BNP had total support to Palestine’s right to sovereignty.
Aslam, a Chittagong-based businessman came to politics by joining a platform ‘Zia Parishad’ after BNP came in power in 1991. Later he was elected general secretary of BNP Chittagong north district unit. He was made convener of the unit on 2014.
Recently the BNP leader was made its central joint general secretary. Aslam contested the National Polls in 2008 as a BNP-nominated candidate and was defeated.
Aslam Chowdhury, chairman of Rising Group, is involved in ship breaking, real estate, transport and gas filling station business in Chittagong.
In recent media reports, it was alleged that the BNP leader was involved in hatching a plot to topple the Awami League government with the help of Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.
The reports mentioned that Aslam met Mendi N Safadi, a leader of Israeli Likud Party and chief of international diplomacy and public relations, in New Delhi early this month.
The newspaper also published two photographs of Aslam and the Israeli leader.
Source: New Age
