ARSA leader held at Chittagong airport, planned to leave for Saudi Arabia with a Bangladeshi passport

Narinjara News, 11 February 2023

Asadullah, a leader of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) was arrested at Shah Amanat International Airport of Chittagong on Friday.

The ARSA leader possessed a Bangladeshi passport, and he was planning to fly to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, reported the Bangla Tribune on 11 February.

According to the report, the immigration police arrested Asadullah in the airport and later handed over to Myanmar bordering Ukhiya police station this morning.

Asadullah, who lives in Thankhali refugee camp of Ukhiya locality in Cox's Bazar, faces a murder case, filed against him on 9 January, said the report quoting the concerned Bangladesh police authority.

“According to a case, a person named Asadullah was detained while going abroad. He was later handed over to Chittagong metropolitan police's detective police ” said ATM Shaheen Ahmed, special superintendent of police assigned in the Chittagong airport.

“Asadullah collected his boarding pass as a passenger on a flight bound for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The flight was scheduled to leave by 7:30 pm. We could arrest him before his departure,” he added.

The deputy commissioner of Chittagong city intelligence police (DB-North) Nihad Adnan Taiyan also confirmed that Asadullah was supposed to fly with a Bangladeshi passport. After necessary verifications, he was handed over to Ukhiya police station, he added.

“A murder case was filed against him on 9 January. So he was trying to escape. Now his passport has been confiscated. It will be probed, how he could manage the Bangladeshi passport,” said the officer.

Mentionable is that ARSA is a terrorist outfit which has committed anumber of crimes along the Bangladesh- Myanmar border areas.