Hunt for new militant outfit with JMB link
Intelligence agencies have come to know about covert activities of an Islamist organisation in the country and its close link with the banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh.
Officials said they have only learnt the name of the new outfit, Jamaat-e-Muslimeen, and its "dawati" (invitational) activities.
JMB's explosives expert Zahidul Islam Sumon alias "Boma" Mizan disclosed the name and the limited activities of Jamaat-e-Muslimeen to law enforcers during his interrogation at the task force for intelligence cell, they said.
Mizan told them that a member of JMB's highest decision-making body Majlish-e-Shura and the outfit's IT wing chief Sayem maintain contact with Jamaat-e-Muslimeen.
He also revealed that a few members of the new outfit joined the JMB recently.
However, the law enforcers could not know anything about the leadership and detailed activities of Jamaat-e-Muslimeen from Mizan, but they suspect that the organisation is carrying out invitational activities under the banner of Dawat-e-Islam at different mosques in the capital.
"Many JMB members we have arrested in recent times told us that they were members of Dawat-e-Islam and were first inspired in jehadi spirit through its activities. They later joined JMB," said a top official of a law enforcement agency.
JMB is responsible for carrying out a number of deadly bomb and grenade attacks including the countrywide synchronised bomb attacks in 2005.
Dawat-e-Islam is on the list of 33 militant organisations the law enforcement agencies have identified either for having direct involvement in militant activities or for suspected involvement in militancy in the country.
Apart from JMB, the government has so far banned three other Islamist militant organisations--Harkatul Jihad al Islami, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, and Shahadat-e al Hikma.
The other listed outfits are Hizb-ut Towhid, Allahr Dal, Islami Samaj, Al Harat al Islamia, Jama'atul Faliya, Towhidi Janata, Biswa Islami Front, Juma'atul al Sadat, Shahadat-e-Nabuwat, Jama'at-e Yahia al Turat, Jaish-e Mostafa Bangladesh, Al Jihad Bangladesh, Warat Islamic Front, Jamaat-as-Sadat, Al Khidmat, Harkat-e-Islam al Jihad, Hizbullah Islami Samaj, Muslim Millat Sharia Council, World Islamic Front for Jihad, Jaish-e Mohammad, Hizbul Mahadi, Kalemar Dawat, Islami Dawati Kafela, Al Islam Martyrs Brigade, Dawat-e Islam, Tanzim, Hizb e Abu Omar, and Jadid al-Qaeda Bangladesh.
The intelligence official said they have not yet found any link between Bangladesh-based Dawat-e-Islam and the Pakistan-based international Islamic organisation Dawat-e-Islami.
Police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in a raid on Patharghata area of Chittagong on April 13 held seven members of the Pakistan-based Dawat-e-Islami, which operates in 70 countries, on suspicion of their link with militant activities.
During the raid the law enforcers seized nine passports, four computers, one scanner and one printer, CDs and VCDs, booklets and leaflets on the teachings of Islam and some documents.
Eight days later, a Chittagong court acquitted the detained Dawat-e-Islami members of the charges as police investigation did not find their involvement in militant activities.
"Apart from police, officials of a few intelligence agencies interrogated the arrestees but their involvement in any militant activity was not found," Sub-Inspector Swapan Kumar Saha, the investigation officer of the case, told The Daily Star on Thursday.
"We have information that Jamaat-e-Muslimeen and Bangladesh-based Dawat-e-Islam are the same organisation," a top Rab official said, adding that they heard the name of Dawat-e-Islam long ago.
He said they are now investigating the networks, activities and leadership of Jamaat-e-Muslimeen.
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