Authorities in Oman have arrested Sumon Sikdar Musa, a key suspect in the murder of ruling Awami League leader Jahidul Islam Tipu and college student Samia Afnan Pritee in Shahjahanpur on March 24.
Interpol confirmed the arrest on Friday and said that efforts were underway to extradite him to Bangladesh.
“Interpol began searching for Musa at the request of the Bangladesh Police,” Additional Inspector General Mohiul Islam, who heads the National Central Bureau (NCB), confirmed the matter to online news portal bdnews24.com.
The NCB desk at the Police Headquarters is responsible for communication with Interpol.
He said that they were planning to send a police team to Oman to bring Musa back. “We hope to get a positive result soon.”
On March 24, Awami League leader Tipu, 55, was shot dead at Dhaka’s Shahjahanpur. Pritee, who was on a rickshaw, died after being hit by a stray bullet during the attack.
Tipu’s wife Ward Councillor Farhana Islam Dolly filed a case against unknown people after his death.
After two days, the Detective Branch of police arrested suspect Masum Mohammad Akash, from Bogra. He admitted to shooting the Awami League leader, said police. They also arrested Arfan Ullah Damal, another suspect, from the capital’s Kamalapur.
On April 2, Musa’s brother Saleh Sikder, ruling party’s ward 10 unit General Secretary Omar Farook and two others told the Rapid Action Batallion that the local Awami League leaders had ordered the murder.
They said that the conspirators had paid the killers Tk1,500,000 and Musa served as the link between Dhaka and Dubai underworlds.
They claimed that, two weeks before Tipu’s murder, Musa had gone to Dubai and the murder was masterminded there.
Media reports stated that Musa had gone to Oman from Dubai last month.
AKM Hafiz Akter, DB additional commissioner who is in charge of the murder probe, said that it would be a major success if they could bring him back.