A Bangladeshi supermarket owner was found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn for three violent kidnappings across Queens over a span of six weeks in 2023.
Abu Chowdhury, 36, of Jamaica, was convicted on Thursday, Sept. 24, of three counts of kidnapping and three counts of conspiring to kidnap three men from March 27, 2023, to mid-May 2023. The guilty verdict followed a two-week trial in Brooklyn federal court.
Abu Chowdhury was found guilty by a jury in Brooklyn federal court for the kidnapping and torture of three men in Queens, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.Photo courtesy of EDNY
Prior to this trial, two additional trials were held in March and June for Chowdhury’s co-conspirators. On April 9, Iffat Lubna, 27, of Jamaica, Chowdhury’s then-girlfriend and now wife, was found guilty by a jury in two of the kidnappings. On June 26, Syed Rubel Ahmed, 46, of Jamaica, and Sultana Razia, 41, of Woodside, were found guilty by a jury in the first of the three kidnappings. When sentenced, Chowdhury, Lubna, Ahmed, and Razia each face a maximum of life imprisonment.
“Today’s verdict holds the defendant accountable for the sadistic kidnappings and torture of three separate individuals,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella said. “The acts committed by the defendant, along with his co-defendants and co-conspirators, were brutal, senseless, and cannot be tolerated in a civilized society. Our Office is committed to investigating and prosecuting violent crimes that endangers our community.”
As proven at trial, over the course of 13 hours on March 27, 2023, Chowdhury and Ahmed joined Shahed Alom, 32, and Ruhel Choudhury, 33, both of Jamaica, and another co-conspirator abducted and assaulted a man who had been walking in the vicinity of 181st Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica. Chowdhury forced him into a Honda SUV. Inside the SUV, Chowdhury began beating the victim as Choudhury drove around Queens. At one point, Chowdhury forced the victim out of the SUV and filmed him standing naked in a residential neighborhood. He was later beaten and threatened with death several times throughout the night. When the victim begged for water from the kidnappers, they gave him water laced with a sedative. He lost consciousness and woke up in Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, with multiple injuries the day after he was abducted. Ruhel and Alom pleaded guilty to their roles in the kidnapping and are awaiting sentencing.
On May 10, 2023, Chowdhury and Lubna lured and trapped another man in Long Island City into Chowdhury’s car, tortured him, and shuttled him around various locations in Queens over the course of three days. The victim and Lubna were college classmates in Bangladesh who reconnected in 2023, after both had moved to the United States. Prior to his abduction, Chowdhury had asked the victim about Lubna’s reputation in college. Chowdhury and Lubna were enraged by the victim’s characterization of Lubna’s reputation and kidnapped him to punish him for the smear. He was beaten repeatedly, tortured with a rod and knife to inflict pain, and tied him up and gagged him.
On May 11, 2023, Chowdhury and Lubna abducted and assaulted a third man who was waiting to meet Lubna outside a restaurant in the vicinity of 72nd Street and Broadway in Jackson Heights, for what he thought was a date. Chowdhury forced him into a minivan and began beating him. He was taken to a hotel where Chowdhury sexually assaulted him with a rod, made a ransom call to the victim’s father, demanding $20,000 for his son’s safety. On the third day of the kidnapping, Chowdhury tied up and blindfolded the victim, leaving him in an abandoned house. He was able to free himself by chewing through his restaurants, breaking a window and asking residents in the neighborhood to call 911. He was hospitalized for a week for his injuries.
“Chowdhury’s role in three vicious kidnappings has come to light and the jury has found him guilty of barbaric crimes,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle, of the New York Field Office, said. “Along with our partners at the NYPD, the FBI will continue the fight to apprehend these individuals and bring them to justice. Americans deserve safe communities — not fear, violence, or lawlessness.”