Detectives fear revival of ABT activities

With many leaders of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) still remaining at large, detectives fear a possible revival of their activities ahead of the Ekushey book fair.

In February, bloggers write more while militants search for possible opportunities, said Abdul Baten, joint commissioner of police's detective branch, yesterday.

Addressing a briefing at the media centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Baten said they remained alert to avert any attack.

Talking about possible threats, Joint Commissioner Baten categorically said, “We are not remaining in a position to stay calm because we have to monitor each and every second.”

He, however, said there was nothing to worry as they had already made arrests in clueless blogger killing cases except the LGBT rights activist Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy murder. “We have got some leads from interrogating the arrestees. We are now using them to arrest the others.”

On April 25, armed assailants entered Xulhaz's Kalabagan flat in Dhaka identifying themselves as courier company staff and hacked him and Tonoy to death.

Mashruqure Rahman Khaled, deputy commissioner of DB of police, told The Daily Star yesterday that they had come to know that five members of a sleeper cell took part in the killing. They have already got the names but have not got any trace of them yet, he said.

He, however, declined to disclose the identity of these killers.

Sources in DB police said they were looking for some 17 senior leaders of ABT including its chief Syed Ziaul Haque, a sacked army major.

Zia is facing a Tk 20 lakh bounty on his head. His outfit ABT has claimed responsibility for machete attacks on over a dozen secularist bloggers, publishers and teachers since 2013.

Regarding arrest of Maj Zia, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque said they were looking for him.