Photo: Collected
Jamaat leader Major (retd) Akhtaruzzaman threw away the helmet given to him by the police, saying, “I am not an Awami Leaguer.” He did this on Saturday (October 3) when he was being taken out of a prison van in the court premises in connection with a case filed by the capital’s Airport Police Station. At that time, the Jamaat leader expressed his anger at the handcuffs and helmet being placed on his head.
He said, “In the country I won through my war of liberation, I have been handcuffed and helmeted.”
While being taken to court, he also said, “I spoke about the mismanagement of the plane.” At that time, he was also seen raising his finger and scolding the police from inside the prison van. At one point, he threw his helmet.
Jamaat leader and Major (retd) Akhtaruzzaman further said, “We cannot be stopped by oppression and torture. Jamaat will fight for the people, will fight to establish the rights of the people.”
He further said, “Brothers, the struggle for the rights of the people will continue. The struggle of the people will continue. We will fight for the people, God willing.”
On Thursday morning, the supply of Zamzam water to Umrah passengers arriving on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight from Medina was delayed. Akhtaruzzaman was on that flight. Upon landing at the airport in Dhaka, he started behaving ‘badly’ with the airport officials regarding the incident. He also made objectionable comments by naming the aviation minister. A video of his loud speech went viral on social media.
In the video, Jamaat leader Akhtaruzzaman is seen saying to Airport Executive Director (ED) Group Captain SM Ragib Samad, ‘I will throw you out by the neck, I will throw you out by the neck. You don’t work, you don’t do anything, you lobby for posts. Do you want to get beaten up?’ However, the airport executive director is seen trying to calmly handle the situation.
When the video went viral, there was a stir over such indecent behavior by a responsible person in an area like the airport. After that, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) security officer Shahriar Alam Sajeeb filed a case with the Airport Police Station on Friday. In the case, Major (retd) Akhtaruzzaman has been charged with obstructing government work and making threats.
On Friday afternoon, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner (Intelligence) Shafiqul Islam said that Akhtaruzzaman, the accused in the Airport Police Station case, was arrested from his house. Further legal action against him is under process.