Hasnat, Tahmid remanded after ‘arrest’

Ex-private university teacher Hasnat Karim and Canadian university student Tahmid Hasib have been placed on remand for questioning into Dhaka attack.

Traceless for over a month, earlier today police produced them before court as suspects of Dhaka attack. They were said to be arrested last night under Section 54.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Nurunnahar Yasmin granted police to grill the duo for eight days in custody. Bangladesh’s special counter-terrorism unit had sought them in 10-day remand.

Gunmen, allegedly of the Islamic State, killed 20 hostages – mostly foreign nationals – and two policemen during a 12-hour-long siege at Holey Artisan, a cafe in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone.

Hasnat Karim, a former teacher of North South University and UK citizen, and Tahmid Hasib, a student of a university in Toronto, were witness to the bloody carnage inside the café.

Whereabouts of the duo, who came out of Holey Artisan alive, were unclear since they were picked up by lawmen for quizzing in the aftermath of the Gulshan café attack on July 1.

This morning, Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said both of them were arrested last night under Section 54 from Dhaka’s Bashundhara.

Humayun Kabir, an inspector of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit, produced them before court and sought them in 10-day remand for interrogation.