Another militant held in city
Another militant held in city
Arrestee working for ISIS, says DB
Detectives arrested a man from the capital's Purana Paltan area on Thursday night for allegedly recruiting members for ISIS.
Hafizur Rahman, 22, a second-year student of Tibbiya Government College in Sylhet, was arrested during a raid in Surama Tower on Comrade Moni Singh Road around 8:30pm.
With this, the number of arrested suspected militants rose to 12 in a week.
The DB claimed that Hafizur was a ring leader of an international militant organisation that recruits Jihadis from across the world. But he was allegedly running his own militant organisation in Bangladesh. They, however, did not disclose the name of the international organisation.
During primary interrogation, Hafizur admitted that he was engaged in collecting members from across the country, especially in Sylhet and Habiganj, for expanding militant activities, said Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, at a press briefing at DMP media centre.
Hafizur confessed his link with banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) but said he was currently working on his own to create instability in Bangladesh with the help of the international militant group, claimed Monirul. He has been operating militant activities through internet.
The DB, however, did not allow reporters to talk to the arrestee.
Responding to a query, Monirul said, "So far as we know, no one in Bangladesh has any direct link with the ISIS. But we have information that some people are trying to communicate with the militant group via Bangladeshi expatriates."
Asked whether the arrest of so many militants indicate the re-emergence of militancy in the country, Monirul denied it. He, however, said the local militants were trying to regroup being inspired by the announcement of al-Qaeda chief to open a branch in the sub-continent.
"We also don't have any information on the number of Bangladeshi citizens fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq," he replied to another query.
The senior police official informed that a UK citizen of Bangladeshi origin has come here recently to recruit fighters for ISIS or Islamic State (IS).
Detectives on Wednesday night arrested Asif Adnan and Fazle Elahi Tanzil who were allegedly planning to go to Syria through Turkey with the help of the UK citizen.
DB officials also said they believe several other foreigners might be active in Bangladesh looking for potential ISIS jihadists.
Detectives went after Asif and Tanzil following information obtained from seven JMB men arrested in Ashulia on September 19. Now on remand, the seven include JMB's acting chief Abdullah al-Tasneem alias Nahid and another leader Sikander Ali Noki.
Asif introduced the UK citizen to Nahid and Noki and they started working together to recruit ISIS fighters across the country, investigators learnt after quizzing them.
They claim Asif and Tanzil are supporters of Ansarullah Bangla Team, an emerging radical militant group nurturing al-Qaeda ideology.
Also on Wednesday, DB arrested three members of the banned outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji) at Rampura. They were working to develop a device to detonate bombs from a distance of around half a kilometre, claimed DB.