Operation of Jama’atul Ansar: Officials trace transaction of over Tk 1.5cr
A new militant outfit has received funds from donors in the country and at least six Bangladeshi expatriates, said Rab and counterterrorism officers.
Investigators so far have information about transactions ranging from Tk 1.5 crore to Tk 2 crore by the militant outfit, "Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya", through mobile banking services.
The officers suspect that the militants get funds from abroad through hundi, an illegal channel of cross-border transactions.
"We have got the names of donors who provided a significant amount to the militant outfit," Khandaker Al Moin, director, legal and media wing of Rapid Action Battalion, told The Daily Star recently.
Rab officers are investigating whether all the individuals gave the money knowing that it will be used for militancy or they were led to believe that the money would be used for some other purposes.
However, officers of Rab and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police have come to know that many of the donors, at home and abroad, provided funds knowing those were for training and other organisational activities of Jama'atul Ansar.
But some of them were convinced by the militants that their money would be spent to spread Islam and build madrasas in the Chattogram Hill Tracts or invested in farms.
The militants so far converted 26 underprivileged indigenous people of the remote hills in Bandarban to Islam as part of a plan to gain strength in a area on the hills, said a leading investigator of CTTC, requesting not to be named.
Officers said that the new militant outfit chose hills covered by woods as their main base to avoid detection by the law enforcers.
The CTTC has information that Bangladeshis sent money to the militants from London, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan and the UAE, said another officer.
A man named Ibrahim sent around Tk 15 lakh from Malaysia, he said, adding that there was an arrest warrant for the man in a case filed over militancy.
That case was filed in March 2021 after the arrests of seven men on charges of conducting militant activities in Bandarban.
The new organisation's Adviser Shamin Mahfuz and Ameer Anisur Rahman, who goes by the aliases of Mahmud and Tamal, are also absconding accused in the case filed under the Anti Terrorism Act, he added.
Several suspected Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (Huji-B) members living abroad also sent money to Jama'atul Ansar, hoping that the money would be spent either to provide for the families of the arrested militants or to fight the legal battles to release arrested members from jail.
The investigators said one individual gave the outfit around Tk 35 lakh he got in retirement benefits and by selling his home.
The CTTC arrested a man named Shahjahan of Eidgaon area of Cox's Bazar on November 3 after finding out that one of his two mobile banking accounts was used for transactions of Jama'atul Ansar.
Over the last few years, around Tk 50 lakh was transacted by Jama'atul Ansar using mobile banking services, said the officer.
Law enforcers said the outfit's Ameer Anisur developed a good relationship with Nathan Bom, who is the chief of CHT Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF), an armed group of the Chattogram Hill Tracts. Nathan was a good friend of the militant's outfit's adviser Shamin Mahfuz. Both of them were Dhaka University students.
The Daily Star could not independently verify these claims.
KNF and the militants made a three-year deal at the beginning of last year. The former agreed to provide shelter, training on firearms and explosives and other support to the militants in exchange of Tk 3 lakh a month.
Rab also had information that the militants gave Tk 17 lakh to KNF to buy weapons.
Rab came to know that the militants purchased an AK-22 and an AK-32 rifle to train the young recruits.
Jama'atul Ansar's ameer and adviser were farming land they bought in the hills.
Rab said Jama'atul Ansar was founded by several leaders of Ansar Al Islam, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh and Huji. They launched the organisation in 2017, but named it in 2019.
Rab alone arrested 29 leaders and operatives of the outfit, including three arrested in the Signboard area of Narayanganj on November 8. The three arrestees include two financers who used to ask people to donate for mosques, madrasas and orphanages. When people gave them money, they gave it to the militants.
One of the arrestees, Abdul Hadi, joined the outfit around one and a half years ago and he provided Tk 9 lakh to the organisation three months back. He also paid Tk 20,000 a month to the militants, said Rab spokesperson Moin.
"Hadi used to get the money from his two London expatriate siblings, telling them that the money would be given to mosques and madrasas," he told the briefing.
Another man named Abu Sayeed provided Tk 7 lakh to the outfit two months ago and he used to pay Tk 30,000 to Jama'atul Ansar every month.
Sayeed used to run an online based organisation named "Shariah Graduation Institute" and he got the money by asking people to donate to his institute and different mosques, madrasas and orphanages, the Rab director said.
Both Hadi and Sayeed have two separate cases filed under Anti Terrorism Act against them.
Besides, the CTTC has arrested at least seven others since August this year.
Rab disclosed the identities of 55 youths believed to be trained in operating firearms and making explosives in the hills.