Convict-snatching report filed

One of the probe committees investigating the snatching of high-profile convicted militants from a prison van has submitted its report. “We have received the report but I am yet to read it,” Home Secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmed has said after receiving the report. Two committees have been formed over the incident – one by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the other by the police. The four-member enquiry panel of the ministry, headed by its Additional Secretary Nazim Uddin Chowdhury, submitted its findings on Sunday afternoon. Chowdhury, however, declined to comment. “I won’t say anything on this,” he said while replying to a question. The committee’s other members are DIG (Dhaka Range) SM Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman, DIG Prisons (Headquarters) Tipu Sultan and home ministry Deputy Secretary Khairul Kabir Menon. In a Hollywood style hold-up, a large group of masked gunmen had intercepted a prison van, opened fire on police, killed a policeman, and snatched away three JMB convicts on February 23 at Trishal Upazila in Mymensingh. The three – Salauddin Salehin, alias Sunny, Raqibul Hasan, alias Hafez Mahmud and Jahidul Islam, alias Bomaru Mizan belong to Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Two of them were on death row while the other one was serving a life-sentence. Of them, Raqibul Hasan died in a shootout between police and suspected members of the banned outfit, according to bdnews24.com.