Army arrests top criminals Subrata Bain, Molla Masud
Bain’s 2 other close aides held from Hatirjheel
A team of the Bangladesh Army arrested two top-listed criminals Subrata Bain and his close aide Molla Masud in a special operation in Kushtia early Tuesday (23 May).
The arrest was made around 5am based on intelligence inputs, Lieutenant Colonel Sami-Ud-Dowla Chowdhury, director of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), confirmed at a press briefing.
Five foreign-made pistols, 10 magazines, 53 bullets, and a satellite phone were recovered from the duo.
Acting on intelligence extracted from the arrestees, the army later detained two more individuals – Shooter Arafat and Sharif – from Dhaka's Hatirjheel area, both described as close associates of Bain.
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"These individuals are accused in numerous cases involving murder, extortion, and sabotage," Chowdhury said, adding that Subrata Bain is listed among the country's 23 most-wanted criminals and leads the notorious "Seven Star Gang".
Calling on the public to report any suspicious activities to the nearest army camp or law enforcement agency, he reiterated the Bangladesh Army's commitment to upholding law and order.
3-hour raid in Kushtia
Locals in Kalishankarpur area of Kushtia town said that the raid began around 5am when six army vehicles, including a black microbus, surrounded a three-storey house reportedly owned by the late Mir Mohiuddin.
It took nearly three hours before the personnel entered the building and apprehended the two suspects from the ground floor, while university and college students occupied the upper floors as tenants.
The floor had been rented by a man named Helal Uddin, who introduced the suspects as "guests". Since the arrest, Helal has reportedly gone into hiding, and neighbours believe he may have fled the country.
Students living in the building said the ground floor occupants remained largely hidden. "They never cooked or socialised. One of them would occasionally go out to buy food and vanish again," said a student named Shahin.
"We never saw Subrata Bain, though I did see Molla Masud hanging laundry once or twice," he added.
Helal's wife, who lives in a neighbouring house, has also been unreachable since the raid. Residents said no one knew exactly how long the suspects had been living there.
Bain's rise, exile, and return
Interpol Red Notice-listed Subrata Bain first gained notoriety in the 1990s in Dhaka's Moghbazar area. He led the "Seven Star Group", a gang linked to over 30 murders and numerous extortion cases, and was deeply entrenched in tender manipulation and violent turf wars.
In 2001, Bain fled to India after the BNP government listed him among the top 23 wanted criminals and placed a bounty on his head. He was arrested and jailed in Kolkata.
After a dramatic escape through a tunnel from a prison in Nepal, Bain returned to India where he was later re-arrested and kept in custody. Nearly two and a half years ago, he was pushed back to Bangladesh in a covert operation and is believed to have been held in a secret detention facility.
Following his reported release shortly before the fall of the Awami League government in August 2024, Bain resurfaced in Moghbazar and attempted to rebuild his criminal empire.
Sources allege he resumed extortion, rearmed his group with illegal weapons – some looted from police armouries – and forged alliances with other criminals including Molla Masud and "Sweden Aslam".
Return of Molla Masud
Masud, also among the most-wanted criminals in 2001, operated extensively in Motijheel and Gopibagh areas. He too fled to India and adopted a new identity as Abu Rasel Md Masud. He married an Indian national, Rizia Sultana, and lived there for years.
On 8 February 2015, he was arrested under India's Foreigners Act in West Bengal.
Following their return to Bangladesh, both Bain and Masud went into hiding but reportedly attempted to reclaim influence over criminal networks in Dhaka until their arrest yesterday.
