A local leader of Bangladesh’s ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been detained in Dhaka over allegations of extortion from a garment factory, sidewalk vendors and other businesses, police said.
Mizanur Rahman Swapan, president of the BNP’s Ward 28 unit under Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, was detained Monday by the Special Response Battalion-2 (SRB-2) and later handed over to police.
Ibne Mizan, deputy commissioner of the Tejgaon Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, confirmed the detention.
“SRB detained him and later handed him over to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station,” Mizan said.
Police and SRB sources said Swapan faces multiple allegations of extortion in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and Mohammadpur areas of the Bangladeshi capital.
The allegations include collecting money from a garment factory and sidewalk vendors in the Agargaon Notun Rasta area.
Swapan is also accused of operating an ambulance syndicate around the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital in Agargaon.
Police and SRB sources further alleged that he collected monthly payments from drug dealers operating in Samabay slum near Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Amrita of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station said Swapan remained in police custody after being handed over by SRB-2. No new case had been filed against him immediately after the handover, she said.
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Monirul Islam said police were in the process of taking legal action against Swapan.
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