Deported Bangladeshi: No link yet with Dhaka attackers
DMP boss says
Police are yet to find any link of Piyar Ahmed Akash, a Bangladeshi deported from Malaysia over terror ties there, in the Gulshan cafe, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said yesterday.
"According to the evidence at hand, we haven't yet found any connection between Akash and the Holey Artisan incident," he told reporters.
Reports in the international media on Akash's involvement with the attack would be verified, the DMP chief said, adding that Akash was sent back to Bangladesh with the help of Interpol.
The 37-year-old Feni man is now in jail in two arms cases there.
Although the businessman was deported on September 2, the incident came to light on September 22 after Malaysian daily The Star ran a report on his arrest along with three foreigners and a local man.
Quoting sources, the newspaper said, "A Bangladeshi man, who was among the four arrested for terror links, had met the suspect involved in an attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh, two months ago."
Malaysian police arrested him on August 19 for smuggling weapons for an international terror group, the report said, quoting Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysia's police chief.
"He owned a restaurant in Bukit Bintang. He was placed in Interpol's Red Notice and he was deported on September 2," the report said.
Responding to a query, DMP chief Asaduzzaman Mia said over the past three months, none of the family members made any written or verbal request to police for receiving the remains of the five militants and chef Saiful Islam of Holey Artisan.
The bodies have been handed over to Anjuman Mufidul Islam [a social welfare organisation] for burial as unclaimed bodies, he added.
The five militants -- Nibras Islam, Rohan Imtiaz, Meer Saameh Mubasheer, Khairul Islam Payel and Shafiqul Islam Uzzal -- were killed on July 2 following an operation of the joint forces at Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan.
Apart from the five, Saiful Islam, reported to be a chef of the café, was also killed in the operation.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Mohibul Islam of counter terrorism unit of the DMP said the cyber crime unit was working to know the origin of a newly released video of featuring the Holey Artisan attackers.
The SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based organisation that monitors terrorist activities, on Friday said the Islamic State released a video from Bangladesh for the first time about the attackers.
About five hours before that post, SITE Intelligence in another tweet said: “#ISIS promoted forthcoming vid from #Bangladesh, marking 1st production from the group's division there. Appears to focus on #Dhaka attack.”
In the video, in which they appear to have spoken before the attack, they are heard saying that they would target anyone who they call the “enemies of Islam”.