Bangladeshi police said on Thursday they had arrested a retired army officer who had been on the run for 45 years for his alleged role in the assassination of former president Ziaur Rahman.
Ziaur Rahman, a hero of Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence and a career soldier, was elected president in 1977. He was killed four years later during a military coup while on an official visit to Chittagong in the south of the country.
A court martial in Dhaka tried 18 soldiers for his murder, and 13 of them were hanged.
Police had continued to search for Major Mohammed Mozaffar Hossain, who is suspected of taking part in the plot against the former head of state.
“Mohammed Mozaffar Hossain had remained a fugitive since 1981 (…) we arrested him today,” Bangladesh’s chief of detective police, Mohammed Shafiqul Islam, told French news agency AFP.
Islam said Hossain had left Bangladesh immediately after the coup and had been living abroad ever since.
He was arrested shortly after arriving at Dhaka airport, the police official said.
“During questioning, he explained to us his role in the assassination,” Islam added, without giving further details.
