report in Dhaka Tribune, Apr 9, 20-23
The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Bangladesh police said on Saturday that two death-row militants, who were snatched from the Dhaka court premises, are still residing in Bangladesh.
The militants were snatched after a six-month-long plan and the information about the plan was delivered to the imprisoned militants by Shikha, the wife of one of the escaped militants Md Abu Siddique Sohel and the key coordinator of the militants’ escape.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Unit Chief and Additional Police Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman said this at a press conference organized at the media centre of DMP.
Shikha and her accomplice, Husna Akhtar, were arrested from Narayanganj on Friday night.
Asaduzzaman confirmed that the two escaped militants are still residing in the country and efforts are ongoing to apprehend them.
He stated they could not gather detailed information about the escape plan before Shikha’s arrest. After her arrest, they learned everything about the escape and the direction in which the militants fled.
The militants were initially taken to a shelter house in Sadarghat. From there, they fled to other locations, while Shikha and others left the area through alternative routes, Asaduzzaman added.
According to CTTC, Shikha completed her BSc in engineering with a first-class degree from the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) in 2014. Through her brother, Mozammel Hossain Saimon, she was initiated into the ideals of Ansar al-Islam and later married Abu Siddique Sohel, a member of the group’s military (Askari) wing, through Saimon’s mediation.
Asaduzzaman said: “After marrying Sohel, Shikha became more deeply involved with the organization. In 2017, Abu Siddique Sohel was arrested as a suspect in the murders of blogger Avijit Roy, publisher Dipan and blogger Niladri Chatterjee Niloy.”
Death-row convicts Abu Siddiq Sohel and Moinul Hasan Shamim, members of the banned militant outfit Ansar-al Islam, were whisked away by their associates by beating police and spraying some chemicals on their eyes at the Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court arena on November 20, 2022.
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2023/04/08/cttc-two-fugitive-militants-still-residing-inside-bangladesh
