Murdered His Brothers Family It Was Thiught to Be Gd Gang

"I can have y'all killed. But if I kill you, then you won't feel the pain. I will make you suffer."

Mohammad Hasan smiled grimly and took a deep drag on his cigarette. His hands, loaded with gilded rings and bracelets, clinked every bit he described how he settled an erstwhile score with a rival. A cloud of fume rose towards the ceiling of the cramped room in a money exchange kiosk on a quiet Budapest backstreet. He expressed little emotion or pity. It appeared to be merely business. It was like a scene from a mafia motion-picture show.

He explained how he had enlisted an infamous elite anti-terrorism unit thousands of miles abroad to runway his victim's mobile telephone and arrest him. His remarkable story of revenge and punishment links him to 1 of the well-nigh feared paramilitary groups in the globe: the Rapid Action Battalion or RAB, notorious for murders, abductions and torture throughout Bangladesh. Information technology also links him to the very top of that state'south political elite and to one of the about powerful men in the state.

Who is Mohammad Hasan?

Mohammad Hasan is two people, ane of whom has a very of import family name.

His first identity is that of a small-scale-time businessman from People's republic of bangladesh who journeyed thousands of miles to build a new life in Europe. The money exchange, chosen Bay of Bengal, is one of several ventures Hasan has run in Budapest since arriving in May 2015. The coin commutation is illegal with no license to operate, but that does not affair to Hasan.

Next door, tucked away in a narrow street is another of his ventures – a small traditional Hungarian diner trading nether the name Gulyas Etterem, Goulash Restaurant. It is in the centre of the old quarter where tourists usually flock, but the restaurant is losing money just similar Hasan's other businesses. He has operated a student hostel, some other restaurant in the former quarter and a women's clothing store. Hasan has money bug, but not the ones you would suspect. At that place are plenty of funds flowing his way; his problem is working out how to hide this wealth.

Merely this Mohammad Hasan, slightly congenital with a taste for expensive clothes, is a work of pure fiction. It is a faux identity congenital on dozens of carefully forged documents that helped Bangladesh's "most wanted" gangster effectively disappear into sparse air. Now Al Jazeera'due south Investigative Unit of measurement tin reveal the real identity of Mohammed Hasan, a man who can avowal the loyalty of a world leader and the protection of an army.

His real proper name is Haris Ahmed and he is the third-oldest son of a large family from the Bangladeshi capital letter, Dhaka. Born in 1966, he left school early and equally a immature homo quickly establish demand for his talent for violence and extortion among the crime gangs of his city. Along with his brothers – Josef, Anis and Tipu – the Ahmed association built upward a fearsome reputation as back-street enforcers for rent; men capable of extreme violence when they deemed it necessary.

The ascent of the Ahmed brothers

In the 1980s, the Ahmed association had established their grip on the sprawling Mohammadpur district of Dhaka, which brought them wealth and prominence. It was a bustling surface area, full of small businesses and food stalls where the 4 brothers extorted store owners to pay for their protection.

Bangladesh in the 1980s was a skilful identify for the Ahmed brothers to ply their trade, a tearing and unstable country still raw from ceremonious war and a military coup in which the country'due south founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his family were murdered by ground forces officers.

Before 1971, there was no People's republic of bangladesh, it was Eastward Pakistan and governed by Islamabad. Known as the father of the nation, Sheikh Mujib had led an uprising against Islamic republic of pakistan. It was a savage war in which the Pakistan regular army slaughtered at to the lowest degree 300,000 civilians. Pakistan was defeated with decisive military help from neighbouring Republic of india, which retains a powerful influence in Bangladesh to this day.

The young nation was seething with political violence and a partnership was soon to emerge between politicians and the street gangs. In return for the patronage of the politicians, gangs provided the muscle that helped them survive.

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The Ahmed clan's networks in the Dhaka underworld proved critical to the survival of the leaders of the Awami League, the political party previously led by the murdered Sheikh Mujib. By now it was led by his girl Sheikh Hasina, who had returned to Bangladesh from exile in Republic of india in 1981.

It was a particularly challenging time for the immature politician, the oldest of Sheikh Mujib's children. She and her sis, Sheikh Rehana, only escaped the violent fate of their family as they were out of the country at the time. In 1982, following yet another insurrection, the military-backed authorities of General Hussain Muhammad Ershad seized power. Sheikh Hasina faced the constant threat of house arrest, detention and physical assail.

Amidst the violence and dubiousness, the Ahmed brothers became the unofficial security cordon that shielded Sheikh Hasina. They guarded her at rallies and provided condom houses where Awami League politicians could meet without fear of arrest or assail.

The brothers were feared. Only they were also to face vengeance. Tipu was the youngest and, co-ordinate to a friend, the most intelligent of the brothers. Later establishing himself as the don who ran Mohammadpur, he was murdered in 1999 in a gangland killing.

Two decades before, while four of the Ahmed brothers worked their mode upward the ranks of Dhaka's criminal underworld, a fifth, Aziz Ahmed, chose a dissimilar path when he enlisted in the Bangladesh regular army. His colleagues at the Bangladesh Armed services Academy rated him as an unremarkable officeholder, just Aziz rose quickly through the ranks, his promotions in lockstep with the growing political power of Sheikh Hasina.

In the cycle of shootings, beatings and murders in Dhaka, one gruesome killing changed the destiny of the Ahmed clan forever. In 1996, Mustafizur Rahman Mustafa was gunned downwards in a dusty back street by three Ahmed brothers; Anis, Haris and Josef. Despite beingness riddled with bullets Rahman survived long enough to be the star witness at his own murder trial. His testimony, delivered from his deathbed in hospital, sealed the fate of the Ahmed gang at a trial in 2004.

There are conflicting reports about who Rahman was; one version is that he was a fellow member of the Freedom Party, founded by the officers who assassinated Sheikh Hasina's father, and that he was part of a mob that attacked her business firm with grenades in 1989. In a bizarre twist, nearly a year afterwards Rahman's murder he was charged posthumously with the assault on her dwelling, the aforementioned identify where her father was slain and that is now a national memorial. Others, including his wife, claim his murder was a part of a gang feud. The shooting took place in wide daylight every bit a crowd looked on. There were many witnesses, and while uncertainty lingers over the motive, there is none most the culprits.

In 2004, Josef Ahmed was sentenced to death for the murder. His brothers, Anis and Haris, were given life in prison house but managed to flee the country. Information technology is thought that Anis Ahmed went to Malaysia and Haris went into hiding in Bharat, possibly with the protection of Indian military intelligence.

An important bond

To escape justice in People's republic of bangladesh is one thing, but to stay beyond the accomplish of the law requires coin, contacts and a powerful network. Here the Ahmed gang had a highly placed asset – cheers to the meteoric rise of their brother, Aziz Ahmed, who by 2012 had been promoted to head the Edge Guards Bangladesh (BGB), the country'due south oldest uniformed force. Under his command, the BGB launched a crackdown on opposition parties. Aziz played an important role in securing an election victory for Sheikh Hasina during the street violence of the 2014 general election.

Where were you all when grenades were thrown in my house?

past Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

By June 2018, Aziz was promoted to chief of army staff, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina personally presiding over the ceremony as the minister of defense force. That the prime minister is also the caput of the military is a mark of the central function played by the military machine in Bangladeshi politics. The Ahmed clan had proved themselves loyal to Sheikh Hasina and she, in turn, appointed their brother to command her ground forces.

Later that yr, Full general Aziz'southward soldiers guarded the state's polling stations as the Awami League won another landslide victory. That same twelvemonth, Aziz's brother Josef, who had earlier had his capital punishment commuted to life imprisonment, was released from prison house by a highly unusual presidential pardon.

The bond of security and service between the Ahmed clan and the politically ruthless Sheikh Hasina appeared to have come full circle.

The making of Mohammad Hasan

Al Jazeera'due south Investigative Unit of measurement has obtained undercover sound recordings of telephone calls fabricated by General Aziz that reveal the strength of that bond. In one call he recounts how Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina praised his brothers to senior party members: "Await, you don't know better than me who his brothers are. Where were y'all all when grenades were thrown in my house? These things were happening to my house. Where were you lot? This chief'south brothers were all around me."

According to Aziz, Sheikh Hasina also described his brothers as her "mainstay".

In some other covert recording to a onetime military colleague, General Aziz underlined the Ahmed clan's loyalty to the Prime Minister. "Listen, my friend, even after all these things, these brothers take not changed sides. We merely don't have that sort of blood. We just aren't built to betray."

Aziz rose rapidly through the ranks, his promotions in lockstep with the growing political power of Sheikh Hasina.

On December 9, 2014, General Aziz strode into the swish marble antechamber of the Kempinski Hotel in Budapest. The general was an official delegate at the Globe Borderpol Congress, where border police chiefs gather to discuss security and immigration. No improve place to hatch a plan to smuggle a fugitive across an international borderland using a false passport. Information technology would have fabricated a good example study for his swain delegates.

Bangladesh diplomatic mission officials had asked a immature Bangladeshi to help General Aziz during his stay in Hungary. Sami, whose name we take changed for his safety, was a thirty-year-onetime entrepreneur making his way in Republic of hungary. He felt honoured to help a visiting VIP from his homeland.

Every bit the pair enjoyed a river prowl on the icy waters of the Danube, the historic city of Budapest gliding past their dinner table, General Aziz asked Sami a question: would he help the general's brother, a homo named Mohammad Hasan, gear up up a business in Budapest and acquire residency? It seemed a elementary enough asking.

Haris and Aziz in Budapest, Hungary [Al Jazeera]

Merely that request for assist on a common cold December night would eventually unravel a criminal conspiracy that reaches the highest political office in Bangladesh and led a beau to have a risk that has left him fearing for his life. Sami agreed to aid, but information technology was just a matter of time before he would discover the dangerous hole-and-corner that Mohammad Hasan was actually Haris Ahmed, a gangster on the run with more ability and money than Sami could imagine.

In the months that followed, Sami was sent legal documents and papers from officers nether Aziz Ahmed's control in the BGB. They were stamped, signed and witnessed by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, bank managers, lawyers and consulate staff in Bangladesh and India. It was an elaborate paper chain of fraudulent documents that transformed Haris Ahmed into Mohammad Hasan.

If my brother has to return, people responsible will repent.

by General Aziz Ahmed

The subterfuge was on an impressive calibration. How far back do you need to go to create a false identity for a notorious criminal? The homo charged with guarding a nation's borders, General Aziz, knew the answer; you lot have to get back to the beginning and you demand to know the right people to get you there.

In the course of investigating this story, Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit obtained more than 50 documents that became the edifice blocks of Haris's new identity: false nascence certificates, fake marriage certificates, fake degree papers, fake bank accounts, fake constabulary reports, fake signatures attested past lawyers and, of course, the most important imitation document of all, a passport.

Haris Ahmed'due south fake passport, which uses the name Mohammad Hasan [Al Jazeera]

Armed with a raft of forged paperwork, the newly created Mohammad Hasan, with close support from his brother, the general, moved swiftly to create or purchase stakes in companies in Hungary – Bay of Bengal Kft, Taylorville Kft and briefly Consultech Europe Kft – which could own property, run restaurants, import and export appurtenances and even set up a money exchange kiosk for tourists.

Now Haris had to handle large sums of coin beingness channelled into Europe from Bangladesh. He had to proceed moving, keep buying property and businesses and keep creating ways to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars. France was his next target where, using his fake identity, he bought a stake in five companies and purchased a house in Paris. The choice of company names had a familiar ring; Bay of Bengal, Info Bay of Bengal besides as Snigdha. For a short while, he also owned TPTY and MHPB Holdings. At the registered address of one of his companies is a store offering international money transfers.

An surreptitious source

Sami had helped "Mohammad Hasan" in Hungary only there was growing pressure from an increasingly frustrated General Aziz who started sending a stream of emails and texts to Budapest. He was worried that "Hasan" was not making his new life and would somewhen have to return to Bangladesh. The tone became threatening and dark. By the summer of 2016 Sami sensed danger. "If my brother has to return, people responsible volition repent. They will curse their life, I promise," the general wrote.

Sami wanted to observe out more than about "Mohammad Hasan" and decided to employ his contacts in the Bangladesh regular army who told him to look no further than Interpol's Red Notice list, an electronic bulletin board for the world's most dangerous criminals. Type in nationality – Bangladesh, proper name, Haris Ahmed and hit return.

Staring back at him was a faded blackness and white photo of "Mohammad Hasan" – younger, heavier and rougher-looking but unmistakably the same man. Information technology was the convicted killer, Haris Ahmed.

Sami was in as well deep and decided the only mode to interruption free from the powerful Ahmed association was to go deeper nonetheless and expose their criminal network. He had seen plenty to know that Haris had powerful links in Hungary. It was then that Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit gained a new asset, an surreptitious source who would help reveal the full scale of the Ahmed association'southward dealings.

Sami arranged a business coming together for Mohammad Hasan at a hotel along the river Danube. The hotel staff laid out the executive breakfast of fresh fruit, coffee, pastries and orange juice in the business suite. Three men in smart suites came to attention as a laptop sprang into life – a Skype telephone call was incoming from London and with it came the possibility of huge profits from a state deal in Bangladesh.

My gangsters are RAB. I don't need thugs, these are my thugs

by Haris Ahmed

It was a sting. Sami had introduced Haris Ahmed and his business concern acquaintance, Mohammed Rahman, to a fictional investor who said he wanted to build a multimillion-dollar hotel in Bangladesh. The Investigative Unit had set up the unabridged meeting up to find out how Haris was making money.

Haris fiercely scribbled numbers on a note pad while Rahman, who brokers citizenship-by-investment passports to Canada and elsewhere for wealthy Bangladeshis, got downwardly to business. At that place was skilful money to be fabricated and no time to waste.

"To practise something in Bangladesh is a really great idea, just there'south some problems considering all the same there'south political issues and a piddling bit of corruption," he told the fake investor. "Merely a expert matter for Mr Hasan, considering he is very well connected with high officials, very connected with the government, peculiarly the prime minister herself likes him very much."

Hidden cameras recorded the scene as Haris Ahmed became more blithe. As millions of dollars were discussed he reached for his gilt-coloured mobile telephone and thrust information technology at the laptop camera. On the phone was a photo of himself with Full general Aziz in total military uniform greeting strange dignitaries. Rahman explained Haris's spontaneous act, gesturing at the picture. "Basically at this moment, his elder blood brother is running the state in fact, because our prime government minister leaves everything to (the) army chief to run the country for the large developments."

Rahman and Haris went on to promise access to the highest officials in People's republic of bangladesh, from the banks to the ministries and from the military chiefs to the prime minister herself.

Over the following weeks, Sami continued to operate as our hugger-mugger investigator, probing Haris for more information nigh the source of his wealth. In our secret recordings, Haris claimed that he had been given the full support of Sheikh Hasina to profit from any People's republic of bangladesh regime contracts in Europe, be they for military bunk beds, bullets or surgical masks. He relayed to our hidden microphones how he could make coin from armed services postings, from fixing court proceedings or from using the infamous RAB to extort money from businessmen.

Haris said he pays bribes to both the head of the RAB and the country's most powerful policemen. "My gangsters are RAB," he told Sami. "I don't need thugs, these are my thugs. They pick someone upward and detain them. They brand money. I make money. It'due south a straightforward bargain."

Haris Ahmed, Aziz Ahmed and several foreign dignitaries [Al Jazeera]

Displays of ability and acts of defiance

Merely what of the wider Ahmed association? After months of tracking Haris Ahmed, we were tipped off that Full general Aziz could be coming together the other brothers for a become-together in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

The tannoy system at Kuala Lumpur International airport echoed around the arrivals hall as passengers peered anxiously, looking for friends or relatives. Amid the jostling crowds stood ii men, mobile phones clutched to their ears, waiting and watching for someone to come up through customs. Haris and Joseph Ahmed were to exist the reception party for their brother, Full general Aziz.

A data search had also revealed an address. A state registry shows that a large gated house had been purchased past Mohammad Hasan and Anis Ahmed, the remaining brother who absconded in 2007 and has not been seen publicly since.

Deed showing Anis and Haris – under the faux name Mohammad Hasan – bought a plot in Malaysia [Al Jazeera]

Every bit the light began to fail a modest convoy of cars, two bearing diplomatic plates, swept up to the archway of a large gated firm in central Kuala Lumpur. Full general Aziz, with Josef aslope, stepped briskly into the wet. From behind the gates, Anis Ahmed emerged from the shadows. The Investigative Unit had tracked down the final missing brother.

The following 24-hour interval, under the comprehend of a stormy nighttime, nosotros watched as the Ahmed clan, escorted by a diplomatic convoy, were ushered through the security gates of the nearby High Commission of Bangladesh for the evening.

A calendar week earlier, in March 2019, a order hymeneals had taken place in Dhaka for the oldest son of Full general Aziz. It was a lavish event held over several days, with thousands of guests entertained past military bands at an exclusive army club. The Investigative Unit was able to obtain several photos secretly taken during the celebrations.

Haris Ahmed, left, Aziz Ahmed, centre, and President Mohammed Abdul Hameed, correct [Al Jazeera]

It was an extraordinary display of wealth and power. It was an even bolder act of public defiance. The iv Ahmed brothers, two of whom were criminals on the run, were paraded before the political and military elite of People's republic of bangladesh. The guest of honour was the president of People's republic of bangladesh, Mohammed Abdul Hameed.

Information technology has been a long journeying for the Ahmed family unit just they take finally arrived. From existence a small-time mafia on the unsafe streets of Mohammadpur, the clan now has a house grip on the institutions of the state in Bangladesh.

The Investigative Unit contacted all those involved – including Bangladesh's prime number minister, president, the so-caput of the RAB, Mohammed Rahman, and all 4 Ahmed brothers – inviting them to answer to its findings. None provided a response before the release of the investigation.

After the release of the investigation, People's republic of bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a argument describing the Investigative Unit'south findings as a "smear campaign" orchestrated past opponents of the regime based abroad.

It dismissed statements fabricated by Haris, the blood brother of Bangladesh'southward main of regular army staff, every bit groundless and said Haris Ahmed had no links to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina or any other country establishment.

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Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/2/2/the-gangster-the-general-and-the-prime-minister-of-bangladesh

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