DHAKA: Bangladesh police said on Thursday a former beauty queen arrested this month had attempted to honey-trap the former Saudi ambassador in an attempt to extort $5 million from the envoy.

Meghna Alam, 30, was initially held without charge under the South Asian nation’s controversial law which permits indefinite detention of suspects. Police spokesman Muhammad Talebur Rahman said that Alam had now been charged with extortion over the alleged blackmail scheme.

Another senior police official said that Alam and others hatched a plan to coerce the diplomat into handing over the money. “Bangladesh has the highest number of expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia. The government doesn’t want to jeopardise diplomatic ties,” the officer added.

Saudi Arabia is a constant donor of financial and humanitarian aid to Bangladesh and its more than two million Bangla­deshi workers are the largest cohort of foreign labourers in the kingdom.

Alam appeared without legal counsel during a court hearing on Thursday and rejected the allegation brought against her, urging her arrest to be nullified.

The Daily Star newspaper reported Alam as saying she had been contacted by the diplomat, who had asked her to commence a relationship. Her father, Badrul Alam, has also said “the ambassador and Meghna were in a relationship”.

“My daughter refused his marriage proposal because he already has a wife and children,” he said following the arrest.

The Saudi embassy in Dhaka did not respond to queries on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2025