After spending a decade evading justice, a 41-year-old fugitive sentenced to 21 years in prison for a high-profile arms offence has finally been captured. Law enforcement officials apprehended Md Solaiman Howlader from the capital’s Mohammadpur area, bringing an end to his long period in hiding.
The operation unfolded late Saturday night at approximately 1:45 AM. A specialist team from the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-8 headquarters company, acting with logistical assistance from RAB-2, executed a targeted raid in Mohammadpur that successfully located and detained the fugitive.
The arrested man is identified as Md Solaiman Howlader, son of the late Joynal Abedin from Jalalabad Lakshmipur village under the Muladi upazila of Barishal district. Lieutenant Commander Shahriar Rifat Avi, media officer for RAB-8 in Barishal, confirmed the details of the operation to the press, outlining the sequence of events that led to the midnight arrest.
Legal proceedings against Howlader stretch back to 2016, when a formal criminal case under the Arms Act was registered against him at Hazaribagh Police Station in the capital. A competent court subsequently handed down a rigorous 21-year prison sentence. However, Howlader chose to abscond rather than face trial, prompting the judiciary to issue a standing warrant for his arrest as he remained completely untraceable during the sentencing phase.
Authorities noted that the breakthrough came after the officer tasked with executing the arrest warrant submitted a formal requisition letter to the commanding officer of RAB-8. Armed with this directive, intelligence operatives utilised advanced digital tracking and information technology to pinpoint the fugitive’s hideout in Dhaka, gradually closing the net around him.
Following his capture, the convicted individual was formally handed over to the Mohammadpur Police Station of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police for necessary legal processing and subsequent transfer to the judicial authorities to begin serving his long-standing sentence.
