Former Bangladesh Air Force chief Sheikh Abdul Hannan arrested in Qatar over corruption case

Former Bangladesh Air Force chief Sheikh Abdul Hannan, who faces corruption allegations, has been arrested in Qatar, according to Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

A senior ACC official confirmed the development to Daily Waadaa.

According to ACC sources, Qatari police arrested Hannan on October 15. The commission subsequently received confirmation of his detention through an email from Interpol.

Hannan, who served as Bangladesh's chief of air staff from June 2021 to June 2024, is facing two corruption cases filed by the ACC in July 2025.

The first case accuses him of accumulating approximately 3.29 crore taka in assets beyond his known sources of income and conducting suspicious transactions worth 27.63 crore taka through six bank accounts.

The second case names Hannan and his wife, Tahmida Begum. Investigators allege that Tahmida acquired approximately 1.92 crore taka in unexplained wealth and conducted suspicious transactions worth 1.18 crore taka through 32 bank accounts.

In May 2025, a Dhaka court imposed a travel ban on Hannan and members of his family. The court subsequently ordered the freezing of 38 bank accounts belonging to Hannan, his wife and their son, Sheikh Labib Hannan.

The accounts held approximately 1.18 crore taka, according to court documents. Authorities also moved to seize several properties, including apartments and land in Dhaka and Narayanganj. 

In January 2026, a Dhaka court appointed a receiver to manage several properties belonging to Hannan and his wife. Two months later, another court ordered the seizure of their income tax records as part of the investigation. 

Most recently, on September 20, a Dhaka court ordered the attachment of 34 decimals of land belonging to Hannan in Bagerhat district. The ACC argued that the property needed to be secured to prevent its possible transfer or disposal during the investigation. 

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