The arrival of three American officials in Dhaka between September 20 and 23 and their sojourn at The Westin Hotel in the city’s Gulshan neighbourhood has sparked intense speculation in Bangladesh’s intelligence and security community that the visitors’ objective is to investigate the mysterious death of a US Special Forces Command (Airborne) officer late last month.
At least two separate sources have confirmed to Northeast News that the arrival and stay of the three US nationals at the upmarket hotel was at the reference of the US embassy in Dhaka’s Baridhara locality. The reference was in the form of a cryptic email, which officials were wary to share or discuss.
What is, however, intriguing is that neither the names of the three US officials nor even their permanent or office addresses in their country, including more granular details from their passports or any other identity document, were provided to the hotel staff.
“There is only a US embassy reference email. No names, no background information, no documents were supplied by the three guests,” a Bangladeshi security official said.
However, the Bangladeshi officials said categorically that while one of the US officials landed at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport on October 20 before checking into The Westin, two others arrived on October 22.
Bangladeshi officials admitted that they had no information on when the US guests would leave the hotel or depart Dhaka but they said they suspected that “this stay” at The Westin “might be related to the mysterious and unusual death of US Special Forces Command (Airborne) officer Terrence Arvelle Jackson, aged 50, who was found dead in Room No. 808 of the hotel on August 31 by hotel housekeeping staff.
Information previously accessed by Northeast News shows that Jackson was born in Ohio in May 1975. He was a holder of a type P passport that was valid till 2028.
Bangladeshi government sources, however, revealed that Jackson was in the country for at least four months. He likely travelled to several locations in Bangladesh before checking into The Westin on August 27.
On August 31, after the body was discovered and the US embassy was alerted, no post-mortem was allowed on Jackson’s body by the American diplomats. Jackson’s body was “taken away” before it was shipped back to the US for his last rites. Inquiries by Northeast News revealed that Jackson may have belonged to an elite US Special Forces unit, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), nicknamed the ‘Night Stalkers’.
At least two Bangladeshi government and military sources revealed to Northeast News that Jackson was imparting military-related training to host country army officers for at least four months since his first arrival in Dhaka. But his earlier “footprints” were traced to at least one country neighbouring Bangladesh.
Apart from his tenure in the US Special Forces, Jackson had other interests too. He was an avid RC (radio-controlled) aircraft and enjoyed this hobby with a host of others living in Arizona. Many of his Arizona-based friends who shared RC flying interests condoled his passing.
