New outfit planned entry with a bang
With an aim to "launch" itself as a militant outfit, the Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya made a video of firearms training over the last one year.
The plan was to release it online after conducting a large-scale attack somewhere in the country, Rab officers said.
Key leaders of the outfit, including Anisur Rahman who goes by the alias Mahmood, are seen in the video.
Anisur who is believed to be the ameer of the outfit is seen leading the militants' training that started in the hills of Bandarban in late 2021.
Their way of living in the forests are seen in the 8:43-minute video shown by Rab officers at a press conference in the capital yesterday.
The members, many in brown and grey camouflage outfit, are seen with assault rifles and sharp weapons.
At yesterday's press briefing, Rab also disclosed details of the activities of the outfit and role of its military wing chief Mashukur Rahman, arrested on Monday.
According to Rab, Mashukur was an employee of a post office until 2007. He then started committing robberies.
In the following years, he was arrested several times on charges of robbery and sent to jail, where he came in contact with some leaders of militant group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh.
According to Rab, he was radicalised in prison. After being released on bail, he became a JMB militant.
In 2017, he joined the Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, which was not known to law enforcers at the time.
Khandaker Al Moin, Rab's legal and media wing director, revealed Mashukur's descent into militancy at the press conference.
On Monday, after a gunfight between a Rab team and militants, officers arrested Mashukur, who goes by the alias Ronobir, and another militant named Abul Bashar Mridha near Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar.
Moin said Rab found the video on Mashukur's smartphone.
Mashukur, an expert on improvised explosive devices, became the military wing chief of the outfit a year ago, Moin said.
Under the direction of the ameer, he organised several "shura committee" meetings in Cumilla and different other places.
The Rab official said Mashukur along with the other shura members was present at the signing of an agreement between Jama'atul Ansar and insurgents in the hills in 2021, regarding training of the military wing members.
"He visited the hill tracts on several occasions and supervised the training of the outfit's military wing members," Moin said.
The other arrestee, Bashar, who goes by the alias Alam, was an operative of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh before joining the Jama'atul Ansar in 2016 or 2017. He was on Rab's list of 55 youths who left their home in the last two years to become militants.
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