Seven crew members were sedated, killed by fellow: Rab

The seven crew members of MV Al Bakhera were brutally murdered by a fellow, Akash Mondal Irfan, out of frustration over unpaid wages and months of mistreatment, a Rab official said today.

“The accused sedated the victims using sleeping pills and then stabbed them to death,” Lt Col Munim Ferdous, director of Rab’s legal and media wing, told The Daily Star quoting Akash, who was arrested from Bagerhat early today.

Investigators disclosed that Akash purchased three blister packs of sleeping pills from a market in Pabna while procuring supplies for the cargo vessel.

The sedatives were used to incapacitate the victims before the murders were committed with a fire axe, which was kept onboard as part of the vessel’s safety equipment,

the Rab official said.

According to a press release of Rab, at 8:00am on that day, the victims and the accused, Akash, boarded the vessel, carrying 720 tonnes of urea fertiliser, departing from Chattogram towards Baghabari, Sirajganj.

According to a premeditated plan, Akash mixed three strips (30 pills) of sleeping pills into the curry served for dinner on the vessel.

Everyone except, Jewel Rana, 23, the vessel’s helmsman and the accused Akash, had the dinner and went to their respective cabins to sleep.

Around 2:00am, Jewel and Akash anchored their vessel alongside 8–10 other ships in Sahara Beacon area. Subsequently, Jewel, after eating his dinner, also fell asleep. Around 3:30am, as per his plan, Akash used a fire axe to first kill the ship’s master. Afterward, fearing that the other crew members might find out and inform law enforcement, he decided to kill everyone else onboard one by one.

Around 5:30am, when all the ships had departed for their destinations, Akash began operating the ship himself. At one point, the ship became stuck in Majhirchar area. Akash boarded a passing trawler, pretending to go to the market to buy goods, and fled the scene.

To evade arrest, he went into hiding in the Chitalmari area of Bagerhat.

The seven crew members were stabbed to death in a brutal attack aboard a bulk carrier in the Meghna in Chandpur early Monday.

Responding to a 999 call, a team of river police went to the vessel around 3:00pm on Monday and recovered five bodies from crew quarters, Superintendent of Chandpur River Police Md Mushfiqur Rahman said that day.

Lone survivor Jewel of Faridpur, was transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. His throat was slit.

Our correspondent from Chandpur adds, the ship’s owner, Mahabub Morshed, filed a case with Haimchar Police Station in connection with the incident last night.

In the case statement, Mahabub mentioned that Jewel, who had a severe cut on his neck and was unable to speak, could not provide detailed information about the attackers. However, he indicated through gestures that he would recognise the attackers once he recovered. Jewel also wrote that there were total nine people on the ship including Irfan. He however could not provide his address.

After the incident, the police inspected the ship and seized a bloodstained Chinese axe, a folding knife, two smartphones, two button phones, a wallet, Tk 8,000 in cash, a notebook, a seal, headphones, a handful of rice, and a table spoonful of curry, as mentioned in the case statement.