Bangladeshi police officer from Sheikh Hasina regime on the run nabbed as 'infiltrator'

A Bangladeshi police officer from the Sheikh Hasina regime was nabbed by the Border Security Force (BSF) on Saturday evening for allegedly trespassing into Indian territory through a porous stretch of the India-Bangladesh border in the Hakimpur area in
North 24-Parganas.

BSF sources identified the man as Md Arifuzzaman, 48, a former assistant superintendent of police (ASP) and resident of Sahipara in Nilphamari of Bangladesh, was apprehended by personnel of the BSF’s 143 battalion.

Arifuzzaman was later handed over to the Swarupnagar police after preliminary questioning.

Officials from both the BSF and Bengal Police said that during interrogation, Arifuzzaman claimed he had been on the run since the fall of the Hasina government in Bangladesh in August 2024, fearing for his life.

“Fearing a threat to his life after the government changed in Bangladesh last year, the police officer went underground and was eventually caught on Saturday evening while trying to sneak into Indian territory,” a BSF officer said.

On Sunday, Arifuzzaman was produced before the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Basirhat. He was ordered judicial custody for 14 days.

Investigations revealed that he had been hiding for nearly a month in Satkhira, a Bangladeshi district bordering Basirhat in North 24 Parganas, before attempting to sneak across the border to India.

According to BSF sources, Arifuzzaman disclosed his identity during questioning, following which the information was conveyed to senior Bengal police officers.

BSF officers took him to the Swarupnagar police station. The police arrested him later on Saturday night. Multiple documents were recovered from his possession, which sources said were handed over to senior bureaucrats officials of the Indian government.

The matter was also reported to the Bangladesh High Commission, police sources said.

Sources said that Arifuzzaman during July 2024 was engaged to control the students’ unrest in Bangladesh.

This, many believe, placed him under the scrutiny of the current caretaker government.

Bangladeshi media reports stated that the former officer had previously served as ASP in the Armed Police Battalion-2 (APBN-2) in Muktagachha after holding a similar post in Rangpur Metropolitan Police. Arifuzzaman was transferred to APBN-2 after August 5 last year and worked there until October 13.

The following day, he was suspended for failing to report to duty and had been absconding since then.

Reports from Bangladesh also claimed that Arifuzzaman was an accused in a case linked to the killing of a fruit vendor, Merajul Islam, during student protests in Rangpur on July 19 last year.

The case allegedly named former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her home minister Asaduzzaman, and 28 others as co-accused.

According to the case details, a peaceful student procession on that day was obstructed by police forces.

It further alleged that the Rangpur superintendent of police ordered officers, without warning, to open fire when the fruit vendor was killed.