An intelligence official requesting not to be named told The Daily Star last night that Mamun was picked up from the city's Paltan area.

Meanwhile, the joint forces did not release Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina's Assistant Personal Secretary Dr Awlad Hossain who was hauled in on Wednesday night along with two others from Dhanmondi area.

Sources said the security forces held one Russell when he went to draw Tk 25 lakh from a bank in Motijheel. Later, following up leads obtained from him, a team of intelligence officials and Rab men went to the house No. 38 at Nayapaltan and raided a fourth-floor flat owned by one Liton.

Shah Mosharraf Hossain, general secretary of the flat owners association of the seven-storey building, told reporters yesterday that the law enforcers held four persons around 2:00pm, blindfolded them and whisked them away. He, however, could not confirm whether Mamun was among them.

When asked, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Naim Ahmed yesterday said he did not know anything about the capture.

According to a source, Mamun's wife has not kept in contact with him since he was first arrested on January 11 hours after declaration of the state of emergency.

He was, however, freed later. And since then, the joint forces had been combing through the capital and places elsewhere in the country for him.

In another development, Awlad, held shortly after coming out of the AL president's Shudha Sadan residence Wednesday evening, has been taken to an undisclosed place, said sources.

That he was released a couple of hours after the arrest was learnt to have been wrong yesterday. As of last night, he was not produced before a court or handed over to the police.

Like him, former leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League Jahangir Sattar Tinku, who was arrested on January 24, has yet to be produced before any court or shifted to police custody.

Our Rangamati correspondent reports: The joint forces arrested district BNP Secretary Zahir Ahmed and another BNP leader at Kathaltali in the town at around 7:30pm Wednesday.

The two were handed over to Kotwali police in the early hours yesterday.