Elite law enforcement agency of Bangladesh RAB arrests 5 more suspected members of ‘newly surfaced militant group’ from Jatrabari & Keraniganj area

The elite law enforcement agency of Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested five more suspected members of the ‘newly surfaced militant group’ from Jatrabari and Keraniganj area on Sunday. Briefing media in Dhaka on Monday, Director of the Media wing of the RAB Commander Khandaker Al Moin said that among five are included the three youths who had left home earlier to join the new militant organisation named ‘Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya’. The RAB spokesperson said that they have identified the details of 95 persons associated with this organisation out of which 38 names have been confirmed for their association with the militant group.

Out of the five arrested by RAB on Sunday, two are relatively senior personnel of the organisation who worked as hosts and fundraisers. During raids conducted at various locations, the police recovered leaflets with radical messages from the possession of the arrested persons.
The RAB informed that this organisaiton had a close link with some other organisations working in the Chattogram Hill area where they provided training and motivated youth to join terrorist activities. Close to 50 persons received training in the Hill areas, claimed RAB.

The organisation targeted youth to draw in its fold by showing them videos of atrocities against Muslims and other material to radicalise them. One of the arrested persons was running a Madrasa and the other two worked as masons and house painters. Families of some of the members of this organisation claimed that their sons were abroad as they were getting money from them from time to time while they were actually under arrest. The RAB said that the organisation took care of its members financially and in other ways.

Earlier, the RAB had arrested seven youths including four who had left their homes to join the newly formed militant group named ‘Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya’. RAB had said that some leaders and activists of the banned militant groups including Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Ansar Al Islam, and Harkat-ul-Jihad-Al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) formed the new group.