report in Prothom Alo, 16 Sep 2023
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested four alleged active operatives of banned militant outfit ‘Ansar Al Islam’ in separate drives conducted in different places of Thakurgaon and Dinajpur districts Thursday night, BSS reports.
Flight Lieutenant Mahmud Bashir Ahmed, senior assistant director (Media) of RAB-13 confirmed their arrest in a press release issued on Friday night.
It said, “Acting on intelligence, a team of RAB-13 conducted a drive and arrested one militant from Thakurgaon Sadar upazila Thursday night.”
The arrested ‘Ansar Al Islam’ operative has been identified as Md Yasin, 17, son of Md Mohsin Ali of Sadar upazila in Thakurgaon district.
Based on the information given by Md Yasin during primary interogation, the elite force later conducted separate raids at Sadar and Biral upazilas of Dinajpur district and arrested three more active members of the banned militant outfit.
The three arrested militants are Md Muntasir Billah, 36, in-charge of the dawati (member recruitment) branch of ‘Ansar Al Islam’ in Northern region; Abdul Malek, 33, son of Rezaul Islam and Sabbir Hossain, 20, of Dinajpur district.
During the drives, RAB seized several ‘Dawati’ books, four mobile phones and four SIM cards from the arrestees,” the press release said.
“The raids were conducted in continuation of arresting five ‘Ansar Al Islam’ members from Khulna, Bagerhat and Gopalganj regions on 31 August,” it added.
During questioning, the detainees confessed that they are active members of ‘Ansar Al Islam’ and had been conducting activities of the organisation in line with the ideology of Al-Qaeda after being inspired by the success of Taliban in Afghanistan.
RAB said the arrestees used to follow the speeches of Tamim Al Adnani, Harun Izhar and Gunobi online, which drove them into militancy. Later they joined ‘Ansar Al Islam’ and had been conducting organisational and ‘Dawati’ activities in the northern region to recruit new members.
Further legal actions are being taken against the detainees, the press release added.
During questioning, the detainees confessed that they are active members of ‘Ansar Al Islam’ and had been conducting activities of the organisation in line with the ideology of Al-Qaeda after being inspired by the success of Taliban in Afghanistan.
RAB said the arrestees used to follow the speeches of Tamim Al Adnani, Harun Izhar and Gunobi online, which drove them into militancy. Later they joined ‘Ansar Al Islam’ and had been conducting organisational and ‘Dawati’ activities in the northern region to recruit new members.
Further legal actions are being taken against the detainees, the press release added. https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/crime-and-law/r5rlaqebam
