20 February 2023 :
Rapid Action Battalion arrested two death-row fugitive war criminals, who committed crimes against humanity during the Liberation War, from Dhaka's Mohammadpur and Mugda areas on 16 February 2023 night.
The arrestees -- Abdul Wahed Mondal and his brother Jachhizar Rahman alias Khoka -- have been absconding since 2016 after coming out of jail on bail, Lt Col Arif Mohiuddin Ahmed, commanding officer of Rab-3, told a press briefing at the Rab media centre on 17 February.
A team of Rab-3 arrested Wahed from Mugda.
In a separate drive, a Rab-2 team arrested Jachhizar from Mohammadpur area in the capital. He had been hiding for the last 14 years, said a press release.
They had been moving around frequently to avoid arrest, according to Rab.
Rab said Wahed used to move around different parts of the country with Tabligh Jamaat. He went by a pseudonym and communicated with his family members using SIMs registered to other names.
A team of Rab-3 arrested him when he went to his son's rented house in Mugda.
On 15 October 2019, the International Crimes Tribunal handed death penalties to five persons in Gaibandha, including the two brothers and their father Abdul Jabbar for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
According to the tribunal's investigation agency, they were involved in four incidents of killings, abduction, confinement, torture, arson and looting.
The charges involved killing one Hindu man, torturing two Hindu women and forcing around 400 Hindus of the Sadar upazila's Sahapara union to leave the country; killing nine people at Nandina village and looting around 50 houses; killing five people at Doulatpur village; and killing seven people in Sahapara union.
According to the list announced by the central committee of Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971, Wahed was the member secretary of Gaibandha Sadar of Jamaat-e-Islami.
His father Abdul Jabbar Mondol was also convicted of death in the same case.
Later, Jabbar passed away.