Bangladeshi officials say security forces have detained a former government minister and several other prominent political and business figures as part of a government crackdown on corruption.
Officials say army-led forces detained former commerce minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury at his home in Dhaka early Tuesday morning. Chowdhury served in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, whose five-year term ended last year.
In other raids today, Bangladeshi security forces detained the mayor of Sylhet, Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran in the northeast and the mayor of Barisal, Mujibur Rahman Sarwar in the south.
They also detained a top member of the Awami League, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim and a leading businessman Abdul Awal Mintoo who formerly headed the country's top trade body, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The charges against the five men were not known.
On Monday, army-led forces detained three prominent politicians, including Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil, a top aide to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Amir Khasru has the details.
