The authorities were searching for BNP joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed, said the State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzman Khan Kamal said on Tuesday, about a week after the BNP leader disappeared with his family pointing fingers at the law enforcers.

‘If he is hiding somewhere, we hope to get hold of him,’ the home boss told the journalists after a discussion marking Bangabandhu’s birth anniversary arranged by Krishibid Institute at Dhaka’s Farmgate.

Queried about whether the government had any information about that Shalahuddin had gone on hiding,  Asaduzzman Khan said, ‘He has been on hiding for a while now. And he has been sending party messages from his hideout like the Talibans.’

The minister said the authorities have been trying to arrest Salahuddin for some time even before his disappearance. The intelligence agencies are on vigilant to detain him.

Earlier on Wednesday night, BNP and Salauddin’s family members claimed that law enforcers picked him up from a house at Uttara on Tuesday night, an allegation denied by the law enforcers and the government.