Former army officer Lieutenant General (retd) Masud Uddin Chowdhury — a former lawmaker and a widely discussed figure during Bangladesh’s army-backed 1/11 caretaker government — was arrested in a police operation in the capital early Tuesday.
Masud rose to prominence on January 11, 2007, when then president Iajuddin Ahmed declared a state of emergency and stepped down as chief adviser, leading to the army-backed caretaker government headed by Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed with then army chief Lieutenant General (later General) Moeen U Ahmed playing a central role.
After the BNP–Jamaat alliance government stepped down in late 2006, political tensions escalated. President Iajuddin Ahmed assumed the role of chief adviser to the caretaker government, triggering protests led by the Awami League and its allies, who also announced a boycott of the national election.
The situation of nationwide violence subsided on January 11, 2007, when President Iajuddin declared a state of emergency and stepped down as chief adviser. The scheduled January 22 election was cancelled.
That turning point came to be known as “One-Eleven.” BNP leaders believe they would have returned to power through the election if the event had not occurred, while opposition parties also accused the president of attempting to engineer such an outcome.
According to interviews with senior armed forces officers, Moeen U Ahmed influenced the declaration of emergency in consultation with a group of officers. At the time, Masud, then General Commanding Officer (GOC) of the Ninth Infantry Division, was a close aide to the army chief during the transition.
In an interview in the book “Ek-Egaro” by writer and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmed, former air force chief Fakhrul Azam described events at Bangabhaban on January 11, when Moeen U Ahmed warned that the United Nations might withdraw Bangladeshi peacekeepers if the situation continued. When the president sought to consult colleagues, Moeen said the decision was his alone and added, “If you don’t make the decision, I am calling Masud,” before saying, “Masud, you come with the tanks.”
According to the account, the Savar-based 9th Division GOC entered Bangabhaban within minutes, prompting concern among officers present. The president then decided to declare emergency rule and asked for the announcement to be prepared, though it had already been drafted, the interview said. The episode marked Masud’s entry into the center of the 1/11 transition, after which he remained a close aide to Moeen until a rift later emerged within the military.
As the caretaker leadership was being decided, Moeen first approached Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, who declined. A delegation of senior army officers led by Masud later held discussions with Yunus, who again declined and suggested Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed. Army officials said Fakhruddin’s name was already under consideration. During the January 12, 2007 oath ceremony, Masud proposed including his relative, former Dhaka University vice chancellor Anwarullah Chowdhury, as an adviser, but Moeen rejected the proposal.
During the emergency, Masud served as coordinator of the National Coordination Committee on Combating Serious Crimes, headed by then home affairs adviser retired Major General MA Matin. Though not publicly visible, Masud was widely believed, according to officials and contemporaneous accounts, to have played a central role in directing joint forces operations.
Joint forces detained top political leaders and business figures and filed corruption cases, including against former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, and current Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. The period also saw allegations of a “Minus Two formula” aimed at removing top leaders of the two major political parties. Efforts were also made to form a “Nagorik Party” under Prof Yunus, who later withdrew.
Masud is the brother-in-law of Sayeed Eskander, younger brother of late BNP chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia. After 1/11, he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Principal Staff Officer (PSO) of the Armed Forces Division, and was seen as wielding significant influence, according to accounts in Ek-Egaro.
He was later transferred from the Ninth Division to commandant of the National Defence College, a move described as outside core army affairs, which he reportedly disliked. Moeen ultimately sent him abroad as Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to Australia amid concerns within sections of the military that Masud was positioning himself to become army chief.
Lieutenant General (retd) Abu Tayeb Muhammad Zahirul Alam said he had been prepared to hand over charge to Masud but was instructed otherwise and told to direct him to the foreign ministry. “I saw his eyes were full of tears. They both did the 1/11 together,” he said. This marked the end of Masud’s army career. He was not a Bangladesh Military Academy-trained officer, having joined from the Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini, later integrated into the army.
Masud served as High Commissioner to Australia from June 2008 to June 2014 and was retained by the Awami League government that came to power in 2009.
After returning, he sought an Awami League nomination in Feni but did not receive it. He later joined the Jatiya Party led by H M Ershad and was elected MP from Feni-3 in 2018 and again in 2024. After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, 2024, he went into hiding after his Feni residence was vandalized and set on fire.
In August 2025, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filed a money laundering case against Masud and 32 others, accusing him of leading a syndicate through his agency Five M International that allegedly embezzled over Tk 100 crore by overcharging nearly 10,000 migrant workers bound for Malaysia.
He was also named in a September 2024 case involving an alleged Tk 24,000 crore manpower recruitment scam alongside former minister Imran Ahmad and others. Police said he faces 11 cases — six in Feni and five in Dhaka.
Additional Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch Shafiqul Islam said Masud was arrested in a human trafficking case filed with Paltan Police Station.
A Dhaka court on Tuesday afternoon granted a five-day remand for Masud after he was produced before the court following his arrest.
