Ansarullah team runs 117 web pages for jihad

As internet has been one of the main tools of communication, Islamist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) is spreading the doctrine of jihad through 117 web pages including on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, detectives said yesterday, after arrest of the pages' administrator.

The group is disseminating not only militant ideology by uploading provocative contents but also running anti-state and anti-government propaganda on the platforms, they said.

The Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested the pages' administrator, Mohammad Morshed Alam alias Masum alias Tractor, at his house in the capital's Kallyanpur Wednesday night.

“In addition to its own activities, ABT has been circulating statements and activities of global Islamist networks like al-Qaeda through the web pages,” said Joint Commissioner of DMP Monirul Islam, briefing journalists at DMP's media centre.

ABT was the first to translate into Bangla and upload to its website the Bangladesh-related part of al-Qaeda key man Ayman al Zawahri's statement announcing formation of a branch of his militant group in the subcontinent, he added.

Detectives said many operatives skilled in information technology were managing fake Facebook pages and using accounts to hunt down "atheists" so that its militant wing could attack them.

A DB official told The Daily Star that the militants also communicated with each other through some secret groups instead of using cell phones to avert arrest.

The arrestee graduated in computer science and engineering from East West University and had been working at the operation and maintenance department of a telecom firm.

"He (Masum) was the main administrator of 117 Bangla language-based groups. The web pages are full of provocative information,” Monirul said.

The Pakistani counterpart of Ansarullah Bangla Team also operates the web pages and puts contents in Arabic, Urdu and English, he said. “Masum's job was to run the Bangla version only.”

ABT web pages include Bab-ul-Islam, Ansarullah Bangla, and Dawahillah. Some production houses including Balakot Media, Titumir Media, Ansarullah Bangla Media, Al Kadisia Media supply video clips to ABT to put them online, said detectives, who seized some books on jihad and one laptop from Masum. A Dhaka court remanded the arrestee for five days.