Rab arrests 5 militants who targeted a law enforcer
Five operatives of newly formed militant outfit Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindai Sharqiya were planning to kill a member of a law enforcement agency before they were arrested by Rab on Sunday.
The outfit recruited three to four members who would have executed the plan in Gaibandha under the leadership of an armed and trained member, Rab said yesterday.
The five operatives were arrested from Narayanganj's Sonargaon and Dhaka's Gulistan areas on Sunday.
The arrestees are: Sakib Mahmud, 27, Golam Sarowar, 25, Forhad Hossain, 22, Murad Hossain, 21, and Wasiqur Rahman alias Nayem, 28.
Sakib was the trained leader of the team, said Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of the legal and media wing of Rab, while briefing reporters on the findings of their investigation at Rab's media centre in Karwan Bazar.
The operative was responsible for the outfit's activities in Gaibandha. He is the nephew of Shamin Mahfuz, the advisor and coordinator of new recruits, the official said.
With the arrest of the five operatives, 34 members have been arrested since the outfit's activities came to the fore in September this year.
Replying to a query, Moin said they had earlier gotten a list of targeted persons from the outfit's arrested members, including names of law enforcers and people conducting the trial process.
He said Rab was working based on the information given in the list.
He said the outfit has even managed to open a mobile accessories shop, Trust Telecom, in Gulistan and a cattle farm in Munshiganj from its funds.
The profits earned from these businesses have been used to meet the outfit's expenses, like food, bomb-making materials, and other needs. It also sends new recruits for training exercises in remote hilly areas of the country.
The Rab official said they have recovered a register from the five arrestees' possession, which contains an estimate of the cost of the products which the outfit sent to hilly area since 2021 as supplies for its members.
In the same briefing, Commander Moin said there was no scope for law enforcers to avoid responsibility for the escape of two convicted militants from police custody in Dhaka on November 20.
Replying to a query, he said it could have been easier to take action or prevent the escape if law enforcers had information in this regard.
Efforts are on to arrest the escaped militants, Moin added.
"We are examining their criminal records and CCTV footage of their movement in various places … We are hopeful that we will be able to arrest them," the Rab official said.
Two Ansar al-Islam men, who were sentenced to death for killing publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, escaped from the premises of Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court on November 20.
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