Families identify missing relatives in militants’ video

Abu Jafar's family was sure that he had been living in the Maldives for the last three years.

He last visited Bangladesh in 2019, and left home saying he was going back to Maldives.

They contacted Jafar over the phone several times and every time he said he was in the country on the Indian Ocean.

Two months ago, Rab officials went to Jafar's house in Faridpur's Charbhadrasan and asked about the him.

On January 30, Jafar's brother-in-law Md Shahjahan identified him in a video released by Rab where Jafar was seen cooking while members of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya receiving training.

Rab got the video from the mobile phone of an arrested militant.

Like Shahjahan, at least nine other families have identified their missing relatives in the video some days ago.

Abul Kalam, father of Raihan, who went missing several months ago, told The Daily Star that he identified his son in the video published by Rab.

Raihan was seen cooking in two scenes in the video.

Kalam, a resident of Dhaka's Kamrangirchar area, contacted Rab on January 27.

Kalam said his son had gone to Dubai in 2018 on a labour visa.

On November 9, 2021, a woman called Raihan's uncle and told him that he had returned home and started staying at one of his friends' houses in Dhaka's Badda.

"When I went there to look for him, I was told that Raihan had gone to another friend's house in Cumilla. I went there but found no trace of him. We later reported the matter to law enforcers," Kalam told The Daily Star.

Some Rab members came to their house two months back and took information about Raihan, he said.

He requested the law enforcers to rescue his son alive and return him to his family.

Raihan's father believes he may have joined the outfit when he was abroad.

Mahmud Dakua, a graduate student at New Model University College in the capital's Shukrabad, used to run a bookshop at Nilkhet. He lived with his elder brother at Lalita Mohan Das Lane in old Dhaka.

On the afternoon of March 18, 2021, he left the shop and has been missing since.

The following day, his relatives filed a general diary with the New Market Police Station. Posters were also pasted in different parts of the country seeking his whereabouts, but to no avail.

On January 25, the family members identified him in the video. He was seen in the video thrice. They reported the matter to Rab's media centre in Karwan Bazar.

Mahmud's elder brother Rasel Dakua told The Daily Star that he brought Mahmud to Dhaka from Barishal's Bakerganj in 2016 and admitted him to the college after he completed his SSC exam.

A few days before he went missing, they had seen some changes in Mahmud's attitude to religion, but he did not suspect anything.

Rasel said a man used to visit him regularly and he suspects that his brother was lured to militancy through that person.

Lt Col Md Mashiur Rahman Jewel, head of Rab's intelligence wing, told The Daily Star that those who were seen in the video are members of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiy.

They were undergoing training there under the supervision of Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF), a separatist group of Chattogram Hill Tracts.

Rab said 55 members of different militant organisations including JMB, Ansarullah Bangla Team, and Huji were seen in the video.

Confirming the authenticity of the video, Mashiur said Rab arrested Ronobir, a shura member of the outfit, and his associate Bashar along with arms and ammunition near Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar on January 23.

After the arrest, Rab found the video clip in Ronobir's mobile phone.