by Riyadh Talukder in Dhaka Tribune, Mar 27, 2023
The law enforcement agencies are on high alert to prevent any kind of terrorist attack during Ramadan, Eid and Bengali New Year celebrations.
Intelligence surveillance has been increased and required information are being collected.
However, the law enforcement agencies do not have any information about the capability of the militants to carry out attacks or their plan to carry out any attack.
Various units of the law and order forces are working to thwart any terrorist attack plan by taking into consideration the issues of past attacks, said senior officials.
An officer of the law enforcement agency said that in 2016, a terrorist attack took place at Holy Artisan in Gulshan just before Eid. At that time, the law and order forces and Bangladesh Army were able to suppress the attackers.
Therefore, detectives are on the ground to ensure that no militant group gets opportunity to create any kind of mischief ahead of the festival. Besides, at the end of Ramadan, crowds of people will be seen on various roads and markets for shopping.
On the other hand, the new Bengali year will be celebrated in Ramadan. Keeping these things in mind, the law enforcement members are on the ground to implement the security plan to prevent any kind of criminal activities, the officer added.
Law enforcement officials said that around 55 youths from various parts of Bangladesh have joined the new militant organization Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya and received military training. RAB has already managed to track down ten of them. The rest are still scattered in different regions in and out of the mountains.
Besides, Anisur Rahman alias Mahmud, the top leader or Ameer of the militant organization, head of Dawati branch Maimun, and head of finance and media wing Rakib are still out of the reach of law and order forces.
Since many of them are trained in the hills and they are very young in age, the leaders of militant organizations can motivate them to try to attack somewhere. The members of the law and order force are active in preventing those activities, said the officials.
Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit Additional Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman said: “In the current context, there is no such capability of terrorists to carry out attacks. Besides, no militant organization attacks anywhere with prior notice. In our observation, we have seen that when a terrorist organization has a plan to attack somewhere, one or two people from the top of the organization are aware of it.”
Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of RAB’s law and media wing, said: “The trained youth of the new militant organization are scattered in different places. The possibility of them carrying out an attack cannot be ruled out. We have kept a strict monitoring on these matters. Every member of RAB is engaged to collectively prevent any kind of criminal activity anywhere.”
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2023/03/26/law-enforcers-on-high-alert-against-militancy
