Airport police produced Shoib before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court at 3:30pm with a prayer for a 10-day remand.

In the prayer police referred to a written speech that Shoib was supposed to present at a seminar in Tel Aviv which proved beyond doubt that he has been involved in anti-state activities for long.

Police also said different fax and e-mail messages seized from Shoib also proved that he passed sensitive information out of the country.

A project profile seeking a fund of Tk 12 crore from Jews in Israel was also seized from him. He sought the fund to publish three dailies namely, Dainik Sonali Din, Dainik Rupantar, Dainik Paribartan.

"As Shoib is engaged in spying and smuggling information out of the country and is involved in tarnishing the image of the country for a long time, he should be remanded for quizzing to extract more information from him," police said.

The defence lawyers submitted a bail petition and a plea for cancellation of the remand prayer saying that Shoib was implicated in the sedation charge as part of a conspiracy to harass him.

Shoib told the court that he was arrested by police at the behest of the editor of The Inquilab, AMM Bahauddin.

"I am a 30 percent share-holder of the ITV. Earlier, Bahauddin sold out my share to Salman F Rahman at Tk 6 crore without my consent," said Shoib who also claimed himself as the incumbent managing director of the ITV.

He said when he demanded his share back the Daily Inquilab editor influenced police to arrest him in order to muzzle him. He also told the court that Bahauddin threatened him with death, as he demanded his share of the money. He said a few days back he filed a general diary with Uttara Police Station in this connection.

Shoib was arrested in July 17, 1999 on charge of sending e-mail to the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her family members and some influential ministers threatening their lives. Charges were pressed against him on May 3 in 2000 and he was jailed for six months.

Police said Shoib used to introduce himself as an ultra Islamist. He was engaged in defrauding people. He often took money from foreign visa seekers. When he was in the daily The New Nation in 1999, he faxed a write-up to the Daily Dinkal where he mentioned that editors of different newspapers took money from the Indian High Commission.

A correspondent of Russian news agency Itar-Tass, Shoib was sacked from his job but soon joined now defunct ATV owned by Aziz Mohammad Bhai. During his stint there, he was arrested on charge of passing information out of the country.

Shoib was arrested at the Immigration department of the ZIA on Saturday morning minutes before his departure to Bangkok by Biman flight BG-084.