From missing young men to murderers

Meer Saameh Mubasheer was a student on the verge of admission to A-level classes when he went missing on 19 February this year.

He has been identified as one of the attackers in the Holey Artisan Bakery where at least 28 people including two policemen and six terrorists were killed.

Saameh Mubasheer told his driver to pick him up from his coaching centre at 6pm and got out of his car. He went missing since then.

He used to stay with his family at Banani DOHS in Dhaka.

Father of Saameh Mubasheer filed a general diary with the police on the same day after he went missing. The daily Manabzamin was also published a report on 7 March in this connection. The news said police also assured the family about finding Saameh Mubasheer.

Gulshan police sub inspector Nazmul investigating the case said the CCTV footage of Gulshan area showed Saameh Mubasheer going towards Banani road no 11. His mobile was also found switched off since 2:55pm from the day he went missing.

Sources at that time said Saameh Mubasheer went towards religious extremism.

After the Inter Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) published the photos of the attackers, their friends, former classmates and other acquaintances started identifying them from the social network site Facebook. 

Not only Saameh Mubasheer, but also Nibras Islam was identified as one of the attackers. People in their Facebook statuses have been saying they could never imagine that the young men from such a social background, with such education and upbringing, could commit such atrocity.

Identifying Nibras Islam in his Facebook status, one person said “I can’t believe that such sweet young boy can be involved with the Gulshan restaurant attack.”  

In a video found on Nibras’ facebook, he was talking to a friend in fluent English, pointing to his education and upper-class family background. His affluent lifestyle is also reflected in the photos of himself with his friends. On his wall there is a photo of him happily shaking hands with Bollywood star Shraddha Kapoor.

From other photos, another youth among the dead attackers was identified as Rohan Ibne Imtiaz. He is also from an upper-class family. Many have pointed out the similarity between the photos he posted with his parents. His parents were devastated to find the photo resembling their son published by the ISIS news agency Amaq.

Rohan’s father had posted a message on Facebook in January asking him to come visit his sick mother. He put up a post again on 11 June saying “Baba, where are you? Please come back”. This indicates that he might have been out of touch with this family for quite a while.