Collecting donation to fund militancy

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) claimed to have arrested three persons who used to collect money by asking people to help mosques, madrasas and orphans, but would use the donations to fund activities of militant outfit "Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya".

Rab disclosed the information at a news briefing yesterday.

At the briefing, Rab also claimed to have rescued a woman from Narayanganj on November 5, after coming to know that an operative of the new outfit radicalised her.

The woman, Ambia Sultana alias Emili, sent her son Abu Bakar alias Riasad Rayan for "hijrat" in March to join Jama'atul Ansar, keeping her husband in the dark, said Khandaker Al Moin, director of Rab's legal and media wing, at Rab's media centre in the capital's Karwan Bazar.

In Islam, hijrat generally means "to give up one's own land" or "to migrate from one place to another place" mostly for the sake of faith.

The arrestees are Abdul Hadi alias Sumon (40) from Sunamganj, Abu Saeed alias Sher Mohammad (32) from Bogura Sadar upazila, and Roni Mia (29) from Narayanganj.

Moin said they arrested the three from Narayanganj's Signboard area yesterday and seized three extremist books, nine leaflets and two bags.

Roni sent Abu Bakar to the outfit's training facility in Bandarban in September after primary training. Emili and Abu Bakar were radicalised by another militant, Al Amin, who was Bakar's private tutor.

As Abu Bakar stopped communicating with his mother after leaving home, Emili broke down and divulged the information. Bakar's father later lodged a general diary.

Moin said they have de-radicalised Emili, who worked in a reputed airline, by keeping her with her family.

"Thinking that the wrong path was right, I pushed my son to that path... Today my beloved son is half dead on a hill in Bandarban. I don't know if my child is alive or not. I don't know if I will ever see him again," Emily said while speaking at the briefing.

Both Hadi and Sayeed have two separate cases filed under anti-terrorism act against them.