2 members of new militant outfit arrested

Two members of a newly formed militant outfit -- "Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya" -- have been arrested in the capital and Sylhet, said the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit yesterday.

The arrestees -- Saiful Islam Tuhin, 21, a former madrasa student in Sylhet, and Nayeem Hossain, 22, a student of Agriculture Training Institute in the capital's Agargaon -- earlier averted a crackdown by the law enforcers in Bandarban, said CTTC unit officials.

Tuhin left home to join a Tablighi Jamaat programme on November 15, 2021, while Nayeem went into hiding on October 2 that year, Md Asaduzzaman, chief of the CTTC unit, told a press briefing in the DMP media centre.

The arrestees stayed at different camps in Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) for about a year with other accomplices.

Separatist group KNF members and the militant group's local associates trained 12 of them for a month. They were given training on firearms, said the CTTC official.

During preliminary interrogation, the arrestees said one Shamim Mahfuz was their main leader and all activities of the camp were conducted according to his plan, said Asaduzzaman.

The law enforcers learnt about the militant group after seven youths from Cumilla left their homes to go to "Hijrat".

They arrested several dozen members of the outfit, and in October, they carried out drives in CHT where the outfit members had been receiving training.

There were around 52 members in the group, said Asaduzzaman.

Due to the crackdown, the outfit members split up into groups. Some went deep into the forest, while some moved to the plain land, said CTTC officials.

The two arrestees later got separated from their groups and reached plain land after walking through the forest for a month.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman, who was arrested for his alleged links with the outfit, knew that his son got involved in militancy, but remained silent, said Asaduzzaman.

He was arrested on December 13 in connection with a case filed with Jatrabari Police Station under the Anti-Terrorism Act on November 2.

On November 9, the Jamaat leader's son Rafat Chowdhury was arrested in Sylhet in the same case.

Rafat was the Sylhet regional coordinator of Al-Qaeda-inspired militant outfit Ansar Al Islam and motivating young people to leave their homes for so-called jihad, according to police.

"The Jamaat ameer admitted that he knew his son was involved [in militancy] … He did not inform the law enforcement agency of the matter," Asaduzzaman said in reply to a query from journalists.

CTTC is now interrogating Shafiqur, who was placed on a fresh three-day remand on Wednesday.

"We will inform you if we find anything," Asaduzzaman added.