Two brothers Omar Faruk, 32, and Firoz, 27, were allegedly abducted by some persons posing as members of the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) at Darussalam in the capital yesterday.
The victims who own a bookstore named ‘Nobojatra Library’ at the Nilkhet book market, were picked up from their house at Tolarbagh by 10-12 men around 2am, said their father Hakim Ali Sarder, who lodged a general dairy (GD) with Darussalam police station in this connection in the afternoon.
Hakim said the men, who were mostly in jeans and T-shirts and the rest wearing lungi, knocked at the door, introducing themselves as members of the DB police.
As the doors were opened, the men asked his two sons to go with them. They were then asked by the family members whether they had any arrest warrant and they replied that they did not have any, he said.
Hakim added that they even slapped one of his sons across the face as they asked them to show their identity cards. They even threatened other family members not to obstruct them.
When contacted over phone yesterday evening, Hakim told the Dhaka Tribune he and his family live on the ground floor of a three-storey building. “They pounded on the door, prompting us to open it quickly. They were behaving rough, did not let us talk that much.”
“I saw one carrying a firearm, usually used by the police. Another had a wireless set in his hand and one other was wearing a jacket with ‘DB police’ written on it.”
“They were tall, well built men and their haircut was similar to the law enforcers,” he said. He added that they had not yet received any ransom call.
He said they went to the DB office at Mintoo road in the morning and officials there said they had not picked up his sons.“We waited all day long and in the afternoon they asked me to contact the relevant police station.”
Darussalam police’s Sub-Inspector Zahanur Ali said they had contacted DB office and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) after the GD was lodged, but got no information about their arrest.
As the law enforcers said they had not picked up his two sons, he told the Dhaka Tribune that his sons might have been abducted due to personal reasons or business enmity, adding that as far as he knew his sons had no enemy.
DB (west) Additional Deputy Commissioner Saiful Islam was asked about the incident, he said they had not conducted any raid in the Darussalam area and “Those who picked them up are criminals. We will try to rescue the victims and nab the criminals.”
