Cox’s Bazar Correspondent: RAB has arrested Zafar Ahmad, former chairman of Teknaf Upazila, an associate of former MP Abdur Rahman Badi from the capital Dhaka. RAB-15 made an arrest from the Basabo area of Dhaka on Friday (November 1) night.
Senior Assistant Director (Law and Media) of RAB-15 Cox’s Bazar Additional Superintendent of Police Md. Kamruzzaman gave this information.
He said former chairman Zafar Ahmed was known as an associate of Yaba Syndicate’s Teknaf drug lord Abdur Rahman Badi, alias Yaba Badi. In December 2022, the Home Ministry published a report listing 1,275 drug dealers. In that report, Abdur Rahman Badi and his close associate Zafar were identified as one of the main masterminds controlling the Yaba syndicate. In 2019, the surrendered drug dealers were released on bail again and regrouped under Jafar’s leadership, expanding the Yaba drug trade.
He also said that after the fall of the government on August 5, Zafar and his terrorists fired indiscriminately on the student crowd in Teknaf’s fountain area. Witnesses and local sources said two short guns and a pistol were seen in their hands during the attack. Zafar Ahmed is one of the defendants in the attempted murder case filed in connection with the attack on students on August 18. The main accused in this case, Abdur Rahman Badi, was arrested by RAB earlier, but his trusted aide Zafar remained elusive. Finally, RAB arrested Zafar by the joint raid team of RAB-15 and RAB-3 through extensive information collection and increased intelligence surveillance.
He also said that on the night of August 5, Zafar and his three sons, led by Zafar and his three sons, attacked, vandalized, and looted Alo Shopping Complex, Hotel Naf Queen, and Abdullah Brothers Filling Station in Teknaf. Three cases were filed separately in these incidents. And Zafar Ahmed has been accused in all of them.
During the interrogation, Jafar told RAB that he was a laborer in the betel market in his early life. He became a labor leader from there. Later, Teknaf Sadar was elected as a member of Upazila Parishad. From then on, there was no looking back. After that, Teknaf Sadar was elected UP Chairman. When Zafar was arrested and jailed during One Eleven, he developed a friendship with Abdur Rahman Badi. After that, he changed his political ideology and joined Abdur Rahman Badi. Zafar was elected upazila chairman in the fourth upazila council election with Badi’s help. After that, he was again elected upazila chairman in the district council member and sixth upazila council elections.
Arrested Jafar has about a dozen cases against him, including drug, weapons, and ACC cases. Although he is on bail in some of them, most of the cases are under trial. On January 21, 2021, the court sent him to jail for acquiring disproportionate assets in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
