Police suspect a young engineer, who went missing from Chittagong over three weeks ago may have been radicalised and joined a militant group.
Sadman Soumik, who obtained his engineering degree from the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) just one and a half years ago, never returned after leaving home for his morning prayers on Apr 23. His father, Abdul Awal, filed a General Diary (GD) at Double Mooring police station in the port city two days later.
Besides the Chittagong police, the disappearance is also being investigated by the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit. Law enforcement officials with inside knowledge of the issue have noted a revival in the tendency of young men turning to religious militancy after a brief gap.
Senior police officials revealed that besides Sadman, CTTC is also investigating the case of an adolescent madrassa student who went missing from Gazipur recently.
CTTC Additional Deputy Commissioner Abdul Mannan told Bangla Tribune: “We are looking into Sadman’s missing case very seriously. Through analysing his daily activities prior to him going missing, we have found traces of being radicalised. But still, we are not 100 per cent sure.”
According to Sadman’s relatives, he was the older of two siblings who studied at Railway Public School and Chittagong Collegiate School. He passed his HSC from Chittagong College, and obtained his engineering degree from MIST in mechanical engineering.
Notably, Ashikur Rahman Zilani, who was killed in a US airstrike in Syria, was also a mechanical engineering student at the MIST.

Father remains unclear
On condition of anonymity, one of Sadman’s relatives told Bangla Tribune that during the night before he went missing, the young engineer had dinner with family members and went to sleep like any other day.
The relative added: “The following morning, on Apr 23, he left home during Fazr prayer and never returned. Usually he awakes his parents for prayer in the morning. But on that day, he didn’t. Family members became alarmed about his whereabouts as he didn’t return even by noon.”
Sadman’s father, Abdul Awal, a former employee of Chittagong Railway, said: “He didn’t take his mobile or laptop.” Later, after filing the GD, police seized those devices from home.
“I am still not clear at all about what happened to my son. I don’t know whether he left home willingly, or anything else happened. Since childhood, he was a religious person. He completed reading Bukhari Shareef when in class nine.
"But it never appeared to me that he is being inclined to extremism. Reading Bukhari or saying prayers regularly, we considered these as normal characteristics for a person coming from a common Muslim family.”
‘A very amiable person’
Sources familiar with the missing person said he lived with his family at Mitaly Road area in the port city. After graduating from MIST in Dhaka, he returned to Chittagong, and joined an organisation called Prantik Marine Services Limited at Agrabad. He was working with the organisation until he went missing.
Prantik Marine’s Managing Director Golam Sarwar, said: “After serving six months, Sadman officially took a release letter from our organisation, informing us that he was going to join Pran Group Limited. Later we came to know that he was missing.
“He was a very amiable person who used to pray regularly. In our office, he never showed any extremist attitude over religion. We are simply at a loss why he is missing.”
One of the colleagues of Sadman at the company added: “Sadman was not fond of gossiping like many of us. He used to go home for lunch at noon, and left for home directly after office in evening. Although he used to call us for prayers, he never created any pressure.”
Hijrat tendency returns
Law enforcement officials involved with curbing militancy, told Bangla Tribune that the tendency of hijrat (meaning leaving home to join religious militancy) among upper class youths has probably revived after a brief gap in such cases.
According to several recent reports, educated and rich youths are leaving home to join the so-called jihad.
Recently, a team from police headquarters rescued two youths from a jungle den of religious militants at Bandarban, where they started living after deserting homes in Rajshahi. They were handed over to their families later.
An official involved in the operation revealed that the youths tried to join militant groups, responding to an online call for jihad and were inspired by extremism online.
On Mar 28, an adolescent student of Tamirul Millat Maddrassa in Chittagong went missing.
Contacted over the issue, Additional Deputy Inspector General (intelligence and special affairs) Mohammad Maniruzzaman said: “This trend of joining the so-called zihad was more or less in practice for long. Being lured by adventurism, many adolescent youths left their homes. We are trying to control the tendency by intelligence gathering and cyber patrolling.
“It is not possible for law enforcement agencies to tackle such a harmful practice single-handedly. Guardians, teachers, civil society members, all have to come together to create public consciousness against the trend," said the police official posted at the headquarters in Dhaka.