Investigation reveals how a criminal gang is colluding with Bangladesh’s security forces and profiting from links to PM Sheikh Hasina.
A criminal gang is colluding with Bangladesh’s security forces to extract bribes for state contracts and job positions, all the while maintaining powerful links with the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, an Al Jazeera investigation has found.
All the Prime Minister’s Men reveals how Haris and Anis Ahmed, both convicted of murder, are being protected by their brother, a high-ranking military officer, after they fled abroad to escape law enforcement.
Their brother is General Aziz Ahmed, head of the Bangladesh Army and close confidant of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, leader of the ruling Awami League.
During the two-year investigation, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit managed to track down Haris and Anis Ahmed, who were found guilty for their involvement in the 1996 murder of Mustafizur Rahman Mustafa, said to be a member of a rival political party, in Dhaka.
Following that murder, both Haris and Anis fled from the authorities and went into hiding abroad.
Haris, who is still on the country’s list of most wanted criminals, fled to Budapest, Hungary, and has been living there using the assumed identity of Mohammad Hasan.
The second brother, Anis Ahmed, is living in Kuala Lumpur, where he escaped to after his murder conviction was upheld in 2007.
Despite the fact that they are wanted by Bangladesh law enforcement, General Aziz stays in contact with both his brothers.
In March 2019, Haris and Anis even visited Dhaka for the wedding of Aziz’s son, where the two fugitives partied alongside Bangladesh’s President Abdul Hamid and foreign dignitaries during an opulent ceremony.
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