CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/24 June) – A Bangladeshi national who has an arrest warrant issued by the Interpol for triple murder in the US was arrested here on Tuesday morning, police said.
Inspector Rustico Galagala Jr., chief of the Provincial Anti-illegal drugs and Special Operation Task Force of Misamis Oriental said his unit together with the police’s Provincial Intelligence Branch arrested Asif Iqbal Ahmed at a rented apartment in Barangay Lapasan.
Ahmed is also facing cases in Bangladesh and the Philippines, Galagala said.
“Our suspect also has an existing human trafficking case in Dhaka, Bangladesh in Uttara East P.S. Case no. -1(3)16 Date 03-03-2016 under the Human Trafficking Prevention Act 2012 Section 6/7/8.
“He also has an existing case here in the Philippines under the Violence Against Women and Children case in the Philippines filed by his wife Marilyn Neri Sacay with Case No. NPS No. X-05-INV-16D-00239, resident of Purok 1 Lanao, Alubijid town in Misamis Oriental,” he said.
A record from Interpol shown by Galagala said Ahmed has an arrest warrant from Interpol with control number A-270/4-2001 for the beheading of his wife Zaman Mary, her sister Tareq Sophia and Tareq’s son in Minnesota, Rochester on Nov. 23, 1991.
On May 12 this year, Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Bangladesh sent a letter to its counterpart in the Philippines requesting to locate and deport Ahmed based on information that the fugitive is living in the Philippines.
Ahmed denied killing the three victims saying he had never gone to the US. He also dismissed the other charges as false.
“I deny the charges. I’ve never been to US, you can check with the immigration in the US. If you can find it, then you can kill me here. If they want to send me home, I will go home,” he said.
“All of this is false, I did not have my first wife murdered, and I don’t know where this came from. But regarding human trafficking, well if it is like that, it is in my country and not here.
“Regarding the violence against women, it’s an accusation by my Filipina wife. I came here the 4th of October 2015. I got married legally with a marriage certificate on the 23rd of February, so if I’m really a human trafficker, why didn’t they stop me when I was marrying. If I’m really a murderer how can I enter the Philippines and exit my country,” he said.
The suspect said his wife made up the charges because she cheated him of money and wanted him out the Philippines. (Erwin Mascarinas/MindaNews)