Haris Ahmed

Haris Ahmed (born 1966) is a Bangladeshi national and fugitive convicted of murder. He is known for his involvement in organised crime in Dhaka during the 1990s and his alleged connections to high-ranking political and military figures in Bangladesh. Ahmed fled the country in the early 2000s and later operated businesses in Europe under the false identity of "Mohammad Hasan".

Early life Haris Ahmed was born in 1966 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, into a large family with four brothers. His father was Abdul Wadud, and his mother was Renuja Begum. His father was an official of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

Haris assumed the identity of "Mohammad Hasan" using forged documents, including fake passports, birth and marriage certificates, and academic records. Bangladesh Police dropped the Interpol notice on Haris. His name still appeared on the most wanted list of Bangladesh Police online.

Both Haris and his brother Joseph secured Bangladeshi passports under fake names. They had also acquired citizenship and a passport of Antigua and Barbuda. Their passports were later cancelled. In September 2024, Salim Prodhan, the chairman of the Japan-Bangladesh Security Printing and Papers Company Limited, filed an extortion case against him and his brothers.

Personal life Haris Ahmed is the brother of Aziz Ahmed, the former Chief of Army Staff. According to covert recordings obtained by Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, Haris and his brothers maintained close ties with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and senior military officials.

In recordings, General Aziz is heard praising his brothers' loyalty and recounting how they protected Sheikh Hasina in her early political life. Haris himself boasted of using the elite Rapid Action Battalion to track rivals and extort money, describing the paramilitary group as "his gangsters". In 2019, Haris appeared publicly at his nephew's wedding in Dhaka, alongside his fugitive brother Anis and then-Army Chief Aziz Ahmed. Also in attendance were senior political figures, including the President of Bangladesh, Mohammad Abdul Hamid.