A man allegedly hired a contract killer to murder his wife and her boyfriend. The hit man turned out to be an undercover U.S. agent.

A Boston man offered to pay a total of $8,000 to someone he thought was a contract killer, but who was actually an undercover federal agent, to have his estranged wife and her new boyfriend killed, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Mohammed Chowdhury, 46, was held at an initial hearing on a murder-for-hire charge in federal court on Tuesday pending a detention hearing scheduled for Friday, the U.S. attorney's office in Boston said in a statement.

An email seeking comment was sent to his federal public defender.

Authorities were tipped off by an informant in November that Chowdhury was soliciting assistance to have his wife killed and the informant provided his phone number to law enforcement, prosecutors said.

An undercover agent posing as a contract killer then contacted him, authorities said.

Chowdhury met with the undercover agent and agreed to pay $4,000 per killing, prosecutors alleged.

He provided the agent with photographs of his wife and the boyfriend, told them where they lived and worked, and provided their work schedules, prosecutors said. He was apprehended Tuesday when he allegedly paid a $500 deposit.

Chowdhury told agents his wife wouldn't let him see his children and he wanted the killings to look like a beating and robbery, prosecutors said.

Chowdhury allegedly asked the agents, "So how we gonna disappear his, uh, body?" and said, "No evidence. No evidence. No evidence from like, you know, that, uh, I did something, you know?"

He provided the undercover agents with photographs of his wife and her new boyfriend, where they lived, where they worked and their work schedules, prosecutors said.

If convicted, Chowdhury faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

In:
• United States Department of Justice
• Boston
• Murder