A retired army official and expatriate in London is reportedly involved in international terror financing. The accused, Mohammed Shahid Uddin Khan, a 55-year-old retired colonel, is now in jail after being arrested by counterterrorism police in January. Khan, who lives in Wimbledon, southwest London, with his family after buying a multimillion-pound ‘golden visa’ to the UK in 2009, has reportedly donated £20,000 to local British MP Stephen Hammond.
A police case has been filed against him by the Bangladesh Police in connection with alleged involvement with international terrorism and also found detonators, weapons, radical jihadist literature linked to al-Qaeda and fake Bangladeshi currency in his home. Detectives also allege they have uncovered 54 bank accounts held by Khan and his immediate family which include ‘suspicious transactions’ with Islamic madrasas that are being ‘strictly monitored by law enforcement agencies for terrorist activities’.
The documents collected by the police also reveal that Khan, who once enjoyed high-level connections in Bangladesh, is suspected of ‘terror financing in the UK’. Shahid Uddin Khan, however, has said to be denied the allegations. Ten years ago, Khan bought a tier-one investor visa which allows wealthy people from outside the European Union to live in the UK with their dependants for a maximum of three years, four months, if they invest more than £2m. They can apply to settle after two years if they invest £10m.
One of Khan’s daughters, Shehtaz, qualified as a barrister in 2017. On her Facebook page, she recently criticised the Bangladesh government for blocking the Qatari-funded channel Al-Jazeera English from the country. “This government handles the rights of their citizens in the worst way possible,” she wrote. “Their actions have left their citizens oblivious to the horrible things occurring in the country.”
It is also alleged that Khan was involved in land fraud activities in Bangladesh over the past 10 years. He was convicted of fraud in absentia last month and sentenced to five years’ jail.
