Five ‘Ansar al-Islam operatives’ arrested

Counter-terrorism officials claimed to have arrested five alleged members of the banned militant group Ansar al-Islam from the city’s Sabujbagh area.

The arrestees are Nijam Uddin (21), Rayhan Bhuiyan (20), Hanif Uddin Suman (19), Sheikh Iftekharul Islam alias Arif (25) and Mufti Muslim (27).

The arrestees were planning to attack religious establishments in the city, said Ilias Sharif, joint commissioner of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of CTTC conducted a raid at Sabujbag’s Balur Math area and arrested them on Sunday afternoon and recovered three machetes from their possession, the official said at a press briefing at DMP media centre.

During primary interrogation, the arrestees admitted that they came from different parts of the country to Dhaka in order to receive training and carry out subversive activities.

According to CTTC officials, Nijam was an employee of a watch repairing shop, Rayhan Bhuiyan was a Bangladeshi expat in Malaysia who returned home recently while Hanif used to work in a ship breaking workshop. Iftekharul graduated from a university, while Muslim was a madrasa teacher.