Cops look for missing 40

Police have prepared a list of 40 missing people from across the country, says Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque.

Before preparing the list, police worked at the field level, collected information from the Rapid Action Battalion and also family members. They then scrutinised the information, the IGP said.

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“We are doing our best to trace them,” he said while addressing a press briefing on recent law and order at the police headquarters in the capital yesterday.

Replying to a query, the police chief said they were yet to disclose the list.

Answering another question, he said some of the missing people on the list might have links with militancy.

Earlier, Rab disclosed three lists of missing persons against the backdrop that some of them might have ties with militant activities.

Without naming, the IGP said they had information that some persons who chose the path of militancy already returned to normal life. 

Responding to a question, he said police in line with the law would provide legal assistance to those who would shun the path of militancy. 

At the briefing, the police chief also confirmed the identity of Tawsif Hossain who along with "Neo JMB" kingpin Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury and their another aide was killed in the August 27 Narayanganj raid.

The other militant is Kazi Fazle Rabbi of Jessore.

The country has been saved from a possible terror attack with the death of Tamim and his aides, said the IGP.

Police confirmed the identities of Tamim and Rabbi soon after the Narayanganj operation codenamed “Hit Strong 27”.

Tawsif, who was a student of an English medium school in the capital, studied at Monash University in Malaysia along with Nibras Islam, one of the Gulshan cafe attackers. Both of them left home on February 3 and had been missing since then, said police.

The IGP also said police traced the den of Tamim in Narayanganj based on its own intelligence and that they awarded the relevant police officials the bounty announced earlier.

He, however, did not make the awardees' names public.

About the Narayanganj and Kalyanpur raids, the police chief said there should not be any doubt about the drives as those were conducted with transparency.

Replying to another question, he said SP Babul Akter, husband of slain Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, submitted his resignation letter willing

ly and that they forwarded it to the home ministry for the next step.

On security during the Eid-ul-Azha, the IGP said police at the field level had been instructed to take sufficient measures so that people can celebrate the festival peacefully.

The law enforcers had also been asked to tackle extortion on roads and smuggling of the rawhide of sacrificial animals, he added.