Thai blast mastermind left Dhaka after 2 weeks: police

The mastermind behind the fatal bomb blast in Bangkok had arrived in Bangladesh a day before the August 17 blast and left for China after two weeks, police said today.

An official at the police headquarters made the disclosure in the evening hours after Interpol sent it a notice upon request by Thai police seeking help to locate Abdulrahman alias Abdus Sattar or Izan who arrived in Bangladesh on a Chinese passport.

“We received a message from Thai police around 4:00pm. We have verified the message and found that the man flew to Dhaka in a Biman flight from Bangkok on August 16. He landed at the airport in Dhaka around 3:30pm,” Assistant Inspector General (Media) Nazrul Islam told The Daily Star.

“We have also found that the man left Dhaka for Beijing on August 30 in a Jet Airways flight at 10:00am,” he said.

He added that they have already informed Thai authorities about the development.

Asked about Izan’s whereabouts during his stay in Bangladesh, Nazrul said, “This is part of our ongoing intelligence activity and I have limitation to disclose the information right now. We’ll disclose it later on.”  

Earlier yesterday, Bangkok English daily The Nation reported about Thai police request for cooperation from Dhaka through Interpol after investigations indicated that the mastermind behind the blast at the Erawan Shrine fled to Dhaka. Police in Bangladesh could not confirm the Interpol request on that day.