The Rapid Action Battalion is looking for at least 10 more suspected female members of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

The 10 members, mostly students, were associated with the four suspected female JMB operatives arrested on Tuesday. They used to communicate with the four regularly, Rab officials said.

The elite police unit came to know about the 10 members following interrogation of the four females and analysing their mobile phones and laptops seized during Tuesday's operation in the capital and Gazipur.

“We are looking for 10-12 associates of the [four] female JMB operatives,” Khandker Lutful Kabir, commanding officer of Rab-4 told The Daily Star yesterday.

“We've got some of their names. The names might be their code names given by the outfit. We will verify those during interrogation,” he said.

The women the Rab is searching are Safia alias Sanjida alias Jhinuk, Maimuna alias Mahmuda alias Laila, Tasnuba alias Tahira, Shaila alias Shahida, Saleha alias Putul, Dinat Jahan alias Nawmi alias Bani, Tanjila alias Munni, Aliya alias Tinni alias Titli, Monira Jahan alias Mili and Sabiha alias Mitu.

Rab mentioned their names as accused in the case filed with Mirpur Police Station in connection with the arrest of the four female JMB operatives.

The Rab-4 chief said they had already written to the home ministry for permission to take the charge of the investigation.

A Rab official preferring anonymity said, “As they [10 females] used to attend meetings with the four women, we suspect that they all are radicalised.”

Apart from the 10, there might be some others associated with the female unit of the JMB, he said.

According to Rab, the female unit was formed under the guidance of JMB's southern region chief Mahmudul Hasan alias Hasan who was arrested by Rab on July 21 in Gazipur.

The four arrestees along with some others were allegedly spreading extremist ideologies among females in the name of teaching Arabic.

Their current objective was to strengthen the female unit and collect funds for terror activities, Rab officials said earlier.

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday granted five-day remand for each of the four arrested female JMB activists.

The arrestees are Aklima Rahman Moni, Khadija Parveen Meghla and Ishrat Jahan Mou -- all fourth-year pharmacy department students at Manarat International University (MIU) -- and Istishna Afroz Oishee, an intern at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Metropolitan Magistrate Pronab Kumar Hui passed the order after Mirpur police produced them before the court and sought seven-day remand for each.

In the remand prayer, the inspector (operations) of Mirpur Police Station said, “The four are active members of JMB. They were planning to create anarchy and carry out subversive activities.”

MIU SUSPENDS THREE STUDENTS

The Manarat University authorities yesterday suspended its three students for their alleged involvement in militancy.

The suspension came at a meeting of the Anti-terrorism and Militancy Monitoring Cell of the university, said Abdul Matin, deputy director (public relations) of the university.

“The decision will be finalised in the academic council meeting to be held next week,” he added.

The meeting also decided to hold two views-exchange meetings with guardians for raising awareness. One will be held at Mirpur campus on September 3 and another at Gulshan campus on September 24.

Meanwhile, a team of University Grants Commission yesterday visited MIU's both campuses.

The team members also visited the libraries. In one library at Gulshan campus, they found some books, which they suspect, contain some provoking elements, sources said.

About this, Matin claimed that those are reference books on a course.