Once an obscure deputy jailor during Sheikh Hasina’s incarceration under the 2007-08 caretaker government, Mahabubul Islam rose to astonishing prominence in Bangladesh’s prison administration following the Awami League’s return to power in 2008. Now, he has vanished-reportedly fleeing to Turkey with his family members by investing his dirty cash in the country that allows any corrupt individual, money-launderer, gangster and even jihadist-terrorist in living in Turkey as ‘second-home’.

According to official sources, Mahabubul Islam alias Mahbub fled Bangladesh on August 3, 2024 along with his family members when a prominent figure in an Islamist organization informed him about possible fall of Hasina’s regime “by the first week” of that month.

From 2009 to 2024, Mahbub has siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars to a number of countries, including Turkey, while he has also purchased huge volume of properties in Bangladesh.

As there is growing allegations of corruption, abuse of power, and an active investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), legal experts said, Bangladesh can issue warrant of arrest against Mahabubul Islam and publish the notification on websites of Bangladesh Police, Rapid Action Battalion, Anti-Corruption Commission, Ministry of Home Affairs, Directorate of Prisons and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the same time, Dhaka can officially request Ankara to deport Mahabubul Islam along with his family members and send them to Bangladesh.

During the political turmoil of the “One-Eleven” era, Sheikh Hasina was detained at Comilla........

© Blitz