Authorities in Bangladesh on Monday suspended five policemen, including a court inspector and ordered a manhunt to recapture the two death row Islamist militants, who were whisked away from a court premises here under dramatic circumstances a day earlier.
Two Islamist militants, who were sentenced to death for killing prominent Bangladeshi-American secular blogger Avijit Roy and his publisher, escaped dramatically from the premises of a crowded court here on Sunday with the help of unidentified bikers who sprayed some chemical substance on police and created a smoke screen before whisking away the convicts.
“Five policemen including the court inspector have been suspended for their apparent failure while investigations are underway,” Dhaka metropolitan police’s detective branch chief Mohammad Harunur Rashid told the media.
He said an investigation was underway to unearth the reason behind the incident and identities of those who whisked away these two convicts.
The Home Ministry on Sunday ordered a probe, while the police constituted a four-member panel to investigate into the incident while elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) launched a separate review.
Bangladesh Police have also announced a 2 million Taka (approx USD 19,428) for tip-offs leading to the convicts’ recapture.
Police and court officials said Moinul Hasan Shamim and Abu Siddiq Sohel – who were among four operatives of the outlawed terrorist group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) being escorted to transition prison room following an indictment hearing in a different case – escaped the court premises with the help of some unidentified motorcycle-borne men.
“Within moments the miscreants appeared in the scene from nowhere and sprayed some chemicals on police guards that temporarily blinded them before whisking away the convicts,” a police official said.
CCTV footage aired by TV channels showed two motor bikers wearing helmets carrying the two militants through a narrow road in front of the Dhaka Metropolitan Judges Court complex, while a plainclothesman was seen chasing them.
“The prisoners were just handcuffed, their legs were not shackled, a usual protective measure for dangerous criminals or militants,” a court official said.
Hours after the incident, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters that a nationwide alert has been issued to recapture them and an investigation launched to ascertain how the event took place.
Roy, an outspoken critic of religious fundamentalism, was hacked to death with machetes by ABT militants just after he left a book fair at the Dhaka University on 26 February 2015.
His wife Rafida Ahmed was also injured in the attack.
The terrorist group also hacked to death his publisher Dipan in November the same year at his office at Dhaka’s Shahbagh area.
Dhaka’s Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal court sentenced five militants to death in the Roy murder case, while eight Islamists were sentenced to death for killing Dipan.
Bangladesh witnessed an alarming rise of militant activities in 2015 when four “atheist” bloggers were murdered with authorities attributing the attacks to homegrown terrorists while Islamic State at that time had claimed responsibility for three attacks.
A 2016 cafe attack was the worst of the militant assaults when 22 people, including 17 foreigners, were killed, sparking a global uproar while a court subsequently sentenced seven of the eight suspects to death.
It prompted the South Asian country with Muslim majority population to virtually declare a total war against Islamists engaging Army, paramilitary and elite police units that saw a series of countrywide raids on militant hideouts and deaths of dozens of extremists.
