The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has uncovered the involvement of two siblings of former Teknaf MP Abdur Rahman Bodi during an inquiry into illicit earnings from drug trafficking.
CID chief Additional IGP Mohammad Ali Mia revealed this information during a press briefing at the CID headquarters on Wednesday afternoon.
The duo—Aminur Rahman and Abdur Sukkur—were among the 102 drug peddlers of Cox’s Bazar who had surrendered, intending to return to normal life on February 16, 2019, in the presence of Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and the then-police chief Javed Patwari.
Aminur and Sukkur were also convicted in a drug case in 2022 in absentia.
The CID chief said the names came up in the course of the probe into the money laundering aspects of a drug case. “At present, we have pinpointed 9.1 acres of unlawfully acquired assets belonging to their family, with further investigations ongoing to locate additional properties. The investigation is ongoing."
He added that there will be no leniency if evidence against Bodi is uncovered.
Responding to a question, Ali Mia said that all major figures in the narcotics trade will be apprehended in due course. Those found to possess illicit assets and finances derived from drug trafficking will have their unlawful proceeds seized by the government through legal means.
At the time of surrender in 2019, the Home Ministry’s list of yaba dealers had 1,151 names from Cox’s Bazar, of whom 73 were top-level yaba trade kingpins, including Bodi and 26 of his relatives.
On February 3, 2020, at least 20 more drug dealers surrendered.
Previously, several hundred suspected yaba smugglers and sellers were killed in alleged gunfights with law enforcers, while many others were arrested and put on trial.
Over the last decade, Bodi and his relatives also appeared on the lists of top yaba smugglers prepared by the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) and different intelligence agencies.
A former MP from Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya and Teknaf constituency, Bodi is believed to be the kingpin of yaba smuggling from Myanmar. He, however, has never been charged with the offence. His wife, Shahin Akter, became a member of parliament after the ruling Awami League gave her nominations for the 2018 and 2024 elections.
In 2015, the home minister said investigators found many people involved in illegal yaba smuggling, “but they did not find any evidence that he [Bodi] was the ring leader or involved in yaba smuggling. Bodi is innocent.” In 2018, he said there was no evidence of the allegations against Bodi.
In January last year, when a government-listed yaba dealer, Shafiullah Shafi, filed a Tk100 crore defamation case against two journalists, the home minister said that someone named in a list does not mean s/he is a criminal and that the government takes steps only after verifying the list.
The case was filed with a Cox's Bazar court on January 9, 2023, against The Dainik Bangla Editor (acting) Sharifuzzaman Pintu and Special Correspondent Arifuzzaman Tuhin for publishing a report under the title, “None from Bodi's companions among the list of 255”.
