Interpol currently has 196 member countries. Police headquarters sources said that the NCB of Bangladesh Police is in regular contact with 196 countries to verify and exchange information on crimes and criminals. When a criminal leaves the country and stays in another country, the concerned country requests the issuance of a red notice against him to bring him under the law.
Each of the 12 people against whom the NCB has requested the issuance of a red notice has a warrant or arrest warrant in various cases from the courts of Bangladesh.
Interpol publishes the persons against whom it issues a red notice on its website. On Friday evening at 7:15 pm, it was seen that a total of 6,583 people have been issued red notices. Of these, 62 are Bangladeshis. However, none of the 12 people who recently applied to Interpol for the issuance of red notices are on the list.
Among the Bangladeshis on the list of red notices issued on the Interpol website are Rabiul Islam alias Arav Khan, who is a fugitive in Dubai and sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder case of Special Branch (SB) Inspector Mamun Emran Khan, top terrorist Ferdous Jahangir alias Kala Jahangir, top terrorist Zafar Ahmed Manik, top terrorist Zisan Ahmed, top terrorist Prakash Kumar Biswas, former member of parliament Golam Faruk Abhi, among others. The list includes the names and photos of the fugitive convicts sentenced to death in the Bangabandhu assassination case.
Prothom Alo spoke to five high-ranking government and police officials to find out why none of the 12 people for whom a new application for issuing a red notice has been made are listed on the Interpol website. They said that the process of issuing a red notice basically starts after the application is submitted. However, Interpol does a lot of vetting when issuing notices for politically-related incidents. There is an attempt among Awami League leaders and activists residing abroad to present incidents involving Sheikh Hasina and other Awami League leaders as politically-related incidents. For this reason, the process of issuing the notice may be delayed. However, since Benazir Ahmed's incident is a financial corruption or crime, quick action may be taken in issuing a notice against her.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had started an investigation against Benazir Ahmed during the previous Awami League government on charges of widespread irregularities and corruption. During the investigation, she and her family left the country on May 4 last year. She was the IGP from April 2020 to September 2022. He was previously the Director General of RAB from January 2015 to April 2020.
And 10 people, including former minister Obaidul Quader, fled the country before or after August 5. Among them, former mayor Taposh left the country on August 3.
A police source said that there are two main challenges and fears in bringing back those who fled abroad after the July coup. The challenge is that some of the fugitives are citizens of other countries or have permanent residence permits in other countries. And the fear is that those who are fugitives from the Awami League government who are abroad may spend a large amount of money or hire lobbyists to hinder the process of bringing them back to the country.
NCB sources say that a red notice is not a direct arrest warrant. However, if this notice is issued, the accused may be detained at the airport or at the immigration (immigration department) in the case of international travel. In some cases, they may face a situation where they are arrested and forced to return to their own country.
Inamul Haque, Assistant Inspector General (Media and Public Relations) of the Police Headquarters, told Prothom Alo that Interpol helps in identifying the location of fugitives abroad. On the other hand, if the possible location of fugitives abroad is confirmed, the concerned country also informs Interpol. The 12 people against whom a request for issuing a red notice has been made are now under process at Interpol.