Law enforcers take former RAB official Lt. Col. Tareque Sayeed to the Senior Judicial Magistrate's court in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Image by Indrajit Ghosh. Copyright Demotix (17/5/2014) Bangladesh's controversial, elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB),have been accused of extortion, extra-judicial killings and even assassination against payment. Are the country's ‘men in black’ essentially an effective, super group of law enforcers or have they metamorphosed into an elite force of mercenaries? Drawing personnel from the police and the military, the RAB was formed in 2004 to combat the rising crime graph in the country. It was soon dubbed the elite force of Bangladesh. However, over the years, it has become controversial, being stalked by allegations of human rights violations. In a recent high profile abduction and killing of seven men, RAB members were accused [bn] and three RAB officials, officers from the armed forces of Bangladesh, were sacked and detained in this connection. In a separate incident nine RAB members were sued for torture and killing of a businessman. In another recent case, a court in Brahmanbaria, a district in east-central Bangladesh, has ordered the police to accept a case of murder against RAB personnel. On April 27, 2014, a group of unidentified men abducted Nazrul Islam, a businessman and ward councilor, a few kilometers from the Narayanganj district court in central Bangladesh. An accused in many criminal cases, the councillor was travelling along with four associates all of whom were abducted along with him. Chandan Sarker, a senior lawyer, whose car was trailing that of the councillor, was also abducted along with his driver. The RAB came under scrutiny when eye-witnesses said that the abductors were clad in RAB uniform. However, RAB officials denied the accusations. After a widespread search, the bodies of the seven men were found floating in the nearby Shitalakkhya river. Their stomachs had been slit, eyes blindfolded, bodies tied with rope, and weighed down with bricks. The family of Nazrul Islam claimed that the RAB officers had taken 60 million Bangladeshi taka (around US $770,000) in bribes for the assassination under their custody. The RAB had been accused of human rights violation even earlier when they shot an innocent college student and caused permanent disability. Journalist Anis Alamgir shared an experience in his column in the online newspaper Bangla Tribune. He wrote [bn]: র‌্যাবের বিরুদ্ধে যখন হত্যা এবং ভাড়ায় খাটার অভিযোগ নিয়ে তোলপাড় সারা দেশ তখন পুরনো এক গল্প শেয়ার করি পাঠকদের সঙ্গে। তখন বিএনপি তার শেষ দিনগুলো গুণছে। ২০০৬ সাল। ঢাকার এক তরুণকে রাজপথ থেকে তুলে নিয়ে যায় সাদা পোষাকের লোক। তাকে পরিচিত এক ব্যক্তি দিয়ে ফোনে বাসা থেকে ডেকে নিয়ে যাওয়ার সূত্রে আবিস্কৃত হয়েছিল এটা র‌্যাবের কাজ। কিন্তু র‌্যাবের অস্বীকার। কিংবা বলা যায় র‌্যাব কাউকে ধরে নিয়ে যেভাবে কোথায় রেখেছে হদিস পাওয়া যায় না- সে রকম পরিস্থিতি চলাকালে একরাতে তাকে নিয়ে তার বাসায় আসে কয়েকজন র‌্যাব সদস্য। খবর পেয়ে আমি ছুটে গেলাম। কারণ তরুণটি আমার পরিচিত। গিয়ে দেখি তরুণটি র‌্যাব সদস্যদের জেরায় বলছে, অস্ত্রটা এই ড্রয়ারে ছিল। আর র‌্যাব বার বার এটা সেটা বলে হুংকার দিচ্ছে। বাসায় স্বজনদের কান্নাকাটি, র‌্যাবের হুংকার- সবকিছুতে মনে হচ্ছিল কেয়ামত নেমে এসেছে। ছেলেটির মা আড়ালে ডেকে নিয়ে আমাকে বললেন, ৫ লাখ টাকা চাচ্ছে, নতুবা আজ রাতেই মেরে ফেলবে বলছে ওরা। While the whole nation is discussing the alleged mercenary killing by some members of the RAB force I would like to share an old story. It was 2006, towards the end of tenure of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government. Some people dressed in plain clothes, abducted a young man from the street. He had been lured out of his home by a phone call, made an acquaintance. It was later confirmed through him that the RAB was behind this, but the RAB officially denied this. Nobody knew where the young man was held. Then one night some RAB members accompanied him to his house. As the youth was known to me so I went to his house. I saw that he was confessing to them that a weapon was in his drawer. The RAB members were questioning and intimidating him and his family. The wails of the relatives and the shouts of the RAB — it seemed that all hell had broken loose. The mother of the youth came to me and whispered that they were asking for BDT 500,000. Otherwise they are threatening to kill him tonight. Human Rights Watch has alleged that the RAB is behind a spate of torture and extra-judicial killings. The RAB have denied the accusations and have attributed some of the deaths to “crossfire”.