Miscreants have threatened to kill Maulana Ilyas Noori, president of the Raozan upazila unit of Islamic Front and a madrasa principal, in exchange for extortion money in Raozan upazila of Chittagong, which is known as a hub of criminal activity.
In this incident, the victim has filed a general diary (GD) with Raozan police station seeking security for his life.
The principal, Maulana Ilyas Noori, who received threats over a mobile phone demanding extortion money, is the president of the Raozan upazila unit of Islamic Front. Besides, he is serving as the principal of Rangunia Betagi Rahmania Madrasa. In the last national parliamentary election, he contested from the Chittagong-6 (Raozan) constituency as the nominated candidate of the Brihattar Sunni Oikya Jote with the candle symbol and received 26,696 votes.
'Wherever we find you, we will shoot and kill you'
Regarding this, the victim principal Ilyas Noori told Dhaka Tribune: “On Thursday afternoon, while I was praying, a call came to my phone. After finishing the prayer, I received another call from the same number. The person on the other end said, “You will pay extortion money to run the boys, otherwise, wherever we find you, we will shoot and kill you.” I said that I am not a wealthy person and work at a madrasa. Then he said that he knew whether I had money or not. I would have to give them the money.”
He said: “The person on the other end of the mobile phone demanded extortion money in the name of a top miscreant of Raozan. After 10 minutes, another call came from the same number, saying, ‘Have you sent the extortion money? Send it quickly. I called again to save you. Otherwise, you will have to be killed. You have seen how many people we have killed. We will shoot and kill you too. I swear, I will kill you.’”
Ilyas Noori said: “At one point, I told him, if you want to kill me, then kill me. I do not have any money. I will not be able to pay extortion money. Saying this, I disconnected the call.”
What the GD says
Following this incident, Ilyas Noori, who received threats demanding extortion money, filed a written general diary at Raozan police station on Thursday night.
In the general diary, he mentioned that multiple calls were made to Ilyas Noori’s personal mobile phone from the number 01350-565309 from 1:06pm on Thursday. Later, when he called back the number at around 1:10pm, an unidentified person on the other end demanded a large sum of money from him to manage his followers. At the same time, he set a deadline for paying the demanded money by that evening. Otherwise, he threatened to kill him and cause serious harm.
The complaint further stated that later, he was harassed through multiple calls from the same number. He expressed concerns that he and his family members could be harmed at any time over his political activities. Mentioning the insecurity of himself and his family, Ilyas Noori requested the identification of the user of the mobile number concerned and legal action against him.
In this regard, Raozan police station Officer-in-Charge Saiful Islam said: “I have learned about the threats made against a person named Ilyas Noori. He has filed a general diary at the police station. Necessary measures are being taken in this regard.”
Extortion on the rise in Raozan
It is worth mentioning that after the change of power on August 5, 2024, 27 people have been victims of murder in Raozan upazila. Among them, at least 22 people were killed over establishing party dominance and shares of extortion money.
Currently, incidents of extortion in this upazila have increased at an alarming rate over the past few months. There are allegations that miscreants who had been in hiding in the country and abroad for a long time have returned to the area and have been carrying out these extortion demands.