Two Moulvibazar war crimes suspects held

Police yesterday arrested two war crimes accused from Moulvibazar, hours after the International Crimes Tribunal-1 issued arrest warrants for five men for their alleged involvement in crimes committed in the district during the Liberation War in 1971.

The arrestees are Ujer Ahmed, 60, of Goashpur village and Yunus Ahmed, 65, of Sonatiki village under Rajnagar Police Station in Moulvibazar.

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Md Shamsuddoha, officer-in-charge of the police station, told The Daily Star that they arrested Yunus at his village home and Ujer at a place between Moulvibazar sadar and Rajnagar.

"We are trying to arrest the rest of the accused," he said, adding that they would produce the arrestees before the tribunal today.

The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Anwarul Haque, ordered the arrest of the five, who were allegedly involved in local Razakar and Al-Badr Bahini, two auxiliary forces of the Pakistani army in 1971, following a prosecution's petition.

Prosecutor Mohammad Ali, who moved the petition, told The Daily Star that the investigation against the accused began in October last year, and the investigation officer of the case has already found evidence of their involvement in crimes including genocide, murder, arson and lootings in 1971.

"We sought their arrest for fair and proper investigation," said Mohammad Ali, adding that the accused needed to be arrested and kept in jail because they might go into hiding.

Hari Devnath, the investigating officer, said one of the accused was an Al-Badr member while the four others were Razakars in 1971, and he has already found evidence of their involvement in at least three acts of crime, including killing of 14 people in a single incident.