According to an announcement made by Bangladesh’s National Parliament by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, former Bangladesh Police Inspector General Benazir Ahmed has been arrested by Interpol in Dubai in connection with a corruption case filed by the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission, years after he fled the country. He fled the country in May 2024, amid public outrage over allegations that he had stashed an illegal multi-million dollar fortune.
“Benazir Ahmed was arrested on June 12 and he will be extradited soon,” Bangladesh’s Interior Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told parliament. He will be brought back to Bangladesh he added stating that the process was underway. “This is a historic achievement. Through these efforts, we will be able to break the culture of impunity,” Salahuddin Ahmed said.
Ahmed during Sheik Hasina’s term as the PM was her close aide and served as the as Inspector General of Police from April 2020 to September 2022, following his tenure as Director General of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from 2015 to 2020.
The US had imposed sanctions against him in 2021 his alleged role in hundreds of disappearances and extrajudicial killings when he led the feared Rapid Action Battalion paramilitary force.
A shift the leadership was witnessed in Bangladesh in 2024 after ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was charged with crimes against humanity, alleging her role in ordering mass killings during a nationwide uprising in July.