Recent Appearances...

Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Bangladesh

Manhunt underway after two extremists on death row escape from police custody

2022-11-21

[BenarNews] Authorities in Bangladesh were hunting for two Moslem Lions of Islam condemned to death row for the 2015 killings of a secular writer and publisher, after men on cycle of violences helped them to escape as police took them to court on Sunday.

A group of four men on cycle of violence

s subdued police guards with what appeared to be pepper spray as the officers were escorting the two Ansar al-Islam men, Abu Siddique Sohel and Mainul Islam, outside the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Dhaka, officials said. The men on the bikes then whisked the two convicts away in the incident that occurred around noon.

Both of the prisoners, who were scheduled to appear at a trial on Sunday before the Anti-Terrorism Tribunal, had been among defendants sentenced to death in 2021 for the machete-killings of secular writer Avijit Roy and publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan seven years ago.

The group on the cycle of violences sprayed "something" into the eyes of the coppers who were escorting the prisoners, Faruk Hossain, a front man for Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told BenarNews.

Police have announced a reward of up to U.S. $10,000 each for information leading to the runaways’ capture.

At a presser at his office, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that authorities had issued a nationwide alert for the runaways.

"We have issued a red alert. We are trying to arrest them and the border areas were alerted," he said, adding that on-duty coppers would be disciplined if they were found to be negligent in allowing the two forces of Evil to escape.

The two runaways belonged to Ansar al-Islam (otherwise known as Ansarullah Bangla Team), a Moslem Death Eater group aligned with al-Qaeda that was blamed for a string of horrific murders targeting secular writers and intellectuals in Moslem-majority Bangladesh in 2015 and 2016.

Avijit Roy,

...Bangladeshi-American engineer, online activist, writer and blogger who created the Mukto-Mona internet community for Bangladeshi freethinkers, including rationalists, skeptics, atheists and humanists. Engineers are dangerous — they can’t be stopped thinking logically and explaining their conclusions, short of death, so Ansarullah Bangla Team arranged it. ABT is ISIS in Bangladesh now, but at the time Al Qaeda was where all the kewl jihadis pledged their blood...

a U.S.-Bangladeshi writer, was attacked and hacked to death in February 2015 as he and his wife were leaving a book festival in Dhaka. Dipan, whose publishing house printed the works of Roy and other secular thinkers, was killed in October that year when forces of Evil burst into his office and murdered him in a similar way.

Link

India-Pakistan

Convicted: Bangladeshi posing as migrant planned pan India terror strikes

2022-02-11

[OneIndia] A Special Court of the National Investigation Agency has convicted and sentenced a terrorist of the Ansarullah Bangla Team in connection with a conspiracy case.

The special court at Kolkata convicted Samad Mia originally from Bangladesh and sentenced him to 7 years in jail apart from slapping a fine of Rs 16,000. The case was first registered by the Special Task Force, Kolkata in 2017 following the arrest of five members of the ABT. Four of them were Bangaldeshi nationals while one hailed from India. The ABT is a proscribed terror group.

The probe was taken over by the NIA in 2018 following which it was established that these persons had entered India in 2016. They had conspired to commit acts of terror in India.

These persons had travelled to Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune in the guise of labourers.

They also had tried to procure chemicals from a shop in Patna apart from procuring arms and ammunition in Kolkata. They also tried establishing hideouts in Ranchi, the NIA learnt.

Following the probe all five persons were arrested and charged by the NIA. Earlier the NIA court had convicted three of them. The trial against is remaining.

Link

Bangladesh

US Offers $5MN for Info on Secular Blogger’s Killing in Bangladesh

2021-12-22

[BenarNews] Nearly seven years after Moslem Death Eaters killed Bangladeshi secular blogger Avijit Roy

...Bangladeshi-American engineer, online activist, writer and blogger who created the Mukto-Mona internet community for Bangladeshi freethinkers, including rationalists, skeptics, atheists and humanists. Engineers are dangerous — they can’t be stopped thinking logically, and explaining their conclusions, short of death, so Ansarullah Bangla Team arranged it. ABT is ISIS in Bangladesh now, but at the time Al Qaeda was where all the kewl jihadis pledged their blood...

and injured his wife outside a Dhaka book fair, the United States announced a reward of up to $5 million Monday for information leading to the arrest or conviction of anyone involved in the attack.

It was not immediately clear why the U.S. government announced the potential reward only now. But in Washington, a State Department official said the investigation into the case remained open and the United States was seeking information that could help law enforcement catch perpetrators of the "heinous terrorist attack" on Roy and his wife, both American citizens.

That makes it sound like the newest intern was poking though old files and showed the results to her training supervisor.

"The U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, through its Rewards for Justice (RFJ) office, is offering a reward for information on the terrorist attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh that left U.S. citizen Avijit Roy dead and his wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, seriously injured," the State Department said in a statement.

Link

Home Front: WoT

New York Subway Bomber Sentenced to Life in Prison

2021-04-23

Good. May the rest of his life be exceedingly uncomfortable.

[AnNahar] A Bangladeshi immigrant was sentenced to life in a U.S. prison Thursday for a botched attempt to unleash carnage with a kaboom in a crowded New York subway passage in the name of the Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.

Akayed Ullah

...the very connected lone wolf who belonged to the Al Qaeda-linked Masjid Nur al-Islam mosque in Brooklyn...

maimed himself and three other people in the December 11, 2017 blast in a tunnel below the Port Authority bus terminal near Times Square.

The bomb, which he strapped to his body with zip wires, failed to detonate as planned, and Ullah was left with burns to his torso and hands. His victims suffered minor complaints such as ringing in their ears and headaches.

The explosion sowed panic and disrupted the Monday morning commute during the busy Christmas tourism season, six weeks after a truck driver, also reportedly inspired by IS, killed eight people on a bike path.

Ullah, who migrated to the United States in 2011, was found guilty on all six counts by a Manhattan jury on November 6, 2018.

The 31-year-old's convictions include supporting a foreign terrorist organization, using a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place.

Judge Richard Sullivan said that although Ullah "ultimately failed" in the execution of the attack, it didn't make him "less culpable."

"Your conduct was truly heinous. This is about as bad a crime as there is," he said, handing down the life sentence.

Ullah's defense counsel had called for the mandatory minimum sentence of 35 years.

Ullah said what he had done was "wrong."
"Because I failed, Infidel"
"I can tell you from the bottom of my heart I am deeply sorry for what I did," he told the sentencing hearing.

Ullah was caught on CCTV walking through the subway terminal and detonating the bomb strapped to his body. After his arrest, he allegedly told authorities: "I did it for the Islamic State."

Ullah, a lawful permanent resident of the United States, built the bomb in his apartment, packing the device with metal screws and Christmas tree lights, having planned the attack for several weeks.

On the morning of the bombing, Ullah posted a statement on Facebook referring to the U.S. president saying: "Trump you failed to protect your nation."

A chilling handwritten note saying "O America die in your rage" was found, along with metal pipes, wires and screws in his home, prosecutors said.

Ullah began to radicalize in 2014, three years after moving to the United States, by watching IS propaganda online before starting to research how to make bombs a year ago, officials said.

Prosecutors said he opposed US government policies in the Middle East and wanted to terrorize as many people as possible, deliberately choosing a week day when the area would be most crowded.

Benar News adds:

The Dec. 11, 2017, explosion in a passageway connecting the subway station at Times Square to New York’s Port Authority bus station, occurred less than two weeks after IS released a propaganda video, "Flames of War II." In it, leaders called on supporters to carry out attacks in the United States.

One day after the bombing, Ullah’s wife, Ferdous Jui, was questioned by police in Dhaka.

She said her husband, who had been living in Brooklyn, N.Y., since 2011, visited Bangladesh in early September 2017, months after she gave birth to their son.

He made the trip to arrange U.S. immigration papers for his family, officials said.

So the family lied when they said he went home to visit a Rohingya refugee camp to conduct charity work? How unexpected. Still, he had to know by then what he planned to do. What did he think the American authorities would do to his family afterward?

According to Bangladeshi police, Ferdous Jui told them that her husband may have been influenced by sermons and writings of radical Moslem preacher Jasim Uddin Rahmani.

Her husband told her to look into what the man had to say, which was a strong hint. Mufti Muhammad Jasimuddin Rahmani has been behind bars since he was arrested in 2013. Inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki, his followers include members of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HuJI) and Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh. He was connected to JMB by marriage...

The preacher is the imprisoned leader of a banned Bangladeshi murderous Moslem group, Ansar al-Islam, also known as Ansarullah Bangla Team.

Ansar-al-Islam is the name they took when they became the Bangladeshi branch of Al Qaeda in the India Subcontinent. They’re notorious for murdering secular Bangladeshi bloggers and writers. In 2017 an ABT man was arrested in India for recruiting for ISIS, which might explain why our miscreant insisted so strongly his dastardly deed was dedicated to ISIS rather than Al Qaeda...

The prosecutor questioned Ullah’s remorse, noting that he proudly boasted about carrying out the attack in the name of IS.

The prosecution’s sentencing memo also showed that Ullah remained radicalized and issued threats following his arrest.

"You started this war, we will finish it. More is coming, you’ll see," he told a corrections officer, according to the memo.

Link

Bangladesh

5 Sentenced to Die for Killing Secular Bangladesh-American Blogger Avijit Roy

2021-02-17

Ululululululululululu!

[BenarNews] A tribunal in Bangladesh on Tuesday sentenced to death five men of an al-Qaeda-linked krazed killer group who were found guilty of killing Bangladesh-American blogger and author Avijit Roy

...Bangladeshi-American engineer, online activist, writer and blogger who created the Mukto-Mona internet community for Bangladeshi freethinkers, including rationalists, skeptics, atheists and humanists. Engineers are dangerous — they can’t be stopped thinking logically, and explaining their conclusions, short of death, so Ansarullah Bangla Team arranged it. ABT is ISIS in Bangladesh now, but at the time Al Qaeda was where all the kewl jihadis pledged their blood...

in 2015, in one of a string of gruesome murders of secular intellectuals in the South Asian country.

A sixth convict was sentenced to life in prison for issuing a death threat to Roy — for his writings against religious extremism and for allegedly defaming Islam — and provoking the machete killing that took place six years ago.

Ulululululu!

Roy’s wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya, who currently lives in the U.S., said the verdict did not provide closure for her or her family, and that the roots of the extremism that led to the killings of intellectuals need to be investigated.

Link

India-Pakistan

Two arrested Bangladeshis entered India in 2018 to commit terror acts, NIA says in charge sheet

2020-01-26

ISIS has been doing its best in India, but doesn’t seem to be making much headway.

[HindustanTimes] The charge sheet states both the accused were in possession of fake Aadhaar cards provided by their handlers in Bangladesh. From Tripura, they went to Bangalore where they spent the next 8-9 months and conducted a recce of several public places in the city.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday submitted a charge sheet against two Bangladeshi nationals in a Mizoram special court, alleging they had entered India with the intention of carrying out terrorist acts and had surveyed several cities including those in Bangalore to carry out their act.

The charge sheet submitted at NIA special court in Mizoram’s capital Aizawl states that Mahmud Hassan (25) and Mohamad Sa’ad Hussain (31) are members of Ansar-al-Islam,

...back home in Bangladesh they were known as Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), sometimes called simply Ansarullah. Ansar-al-Islam is the name they took when they became the Bangladeshi branch of Al Qaeda in the India Subcontinent. They are notorious for murdering secular Bangladeshi bloggers and writers, plus others who catch their malign attention. In 2015 a target list was found naming bloggers, writers, and activists living abroad, and in 2017 an ABT man was arrested in India for recruiting for ISIS....

a banned terrorist outfit in Bangladesh.

The duo were arrested in July 2019 in Mamit district of Mizoram where they were moving around suspiciously and couldn’t provide valid identity documents or the purpose of their presence in the area. The case was handed over to NIA in September the same year.

During the investigation, it was established that Hassan, a resident of Narsingdi district of Bangladesh and Hussain, from Magura district of the neighbouring country, entered India illegally in November 2018 through the international boundary in Tripura.

The charge sheet states both the accused were in possession of fake Aadhaar cards provided by their handlers in Bangladesh. From Tripura, they went to Bangalore where they spent the next 8-9 months and conducted a recce of several public places in the city.

It further states that both accused tried to procure weapons from various places in Tripura and Mizoram in order to carry out terrorist acts on the instructions of their handlers in Bangladesh.

Link

Bangladesh

4 'ABT militants' held in Noakhali

2019-12-10

[Dhaka Tribune] Members of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) of police on Sunday arrested four alleged members of the banned turban outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)

...a front group for Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki. It is accused of being linked to Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami party in Bangladesh. Formed in 2007 as Jama’atul Muslemin, it went dormant when the funding ran out, only to reemerge in 2013 under the current name with a series of murderous attacks on atheist bloggers, and in 2015 the group was banned. Muhammad Jasimuddin Rahmani, their spiritual leader, was in jail in Bangladesh, last I looked...

from the Durganagar area of Noakhali Sadar.

Police also presented the detainees before the court on Monday, asking for a 10-day remand.

In response to the plea, Chief Judicial Magistrate Soeb Uddin Khan placed the detainees on a four-day remand instead.

The detainees are Mahmudur Rahman Sohel alias Mohan, 26, Md Abdullah Kabir, 25, Arif Hossain Hridoy, 23, and Anwar Hossain, 20.

CTTC sources say they conducted a drive to the area around 8pm on Sunday after receiving a tip-off. There they arrested the four with hard boy books, leaflets, and mobile phones.

OC Nabi Hossain of Sudharam Model cop shoppe said: "A case was filed by CTTC Inspector Rashed Hossain on this regard.

"The accused will be taken to Dhaka for further investigation," the OC added.

Link

Bangladesh

2 Ansarullah Bangla team members held in Dhaka

2019-12-07

[Dhaka Tribune] Rapid Action Battalion

(RAB) has arrested two suspected members of banned bad boy organization Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) from Dhaka’s Pallabi.

They were arrested Thursday night, reports UNB.

The arrestees are Manjurul Islam Shohag, 26, and Shukkur Ali, 22.

Confirming the matter, RAB 4 Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mizanur Rahman (media) said: "Acting on a tip-off,
[RING!]
Cop shoppe! Sergeant Shafiq speaking!
Lissen! Dis is Mahmoud da Weasel! I got a tip for youse...
a team of RAB 4 members conducted a drive in the Pallabi area, and arrested them."

The elite force officials recovered some leaflets and jihadi books from their possession.

No knives, shutter guns, or rounds of bullet? Not really worth the RAB’s time, unless they were incidental in the search for someone wanted on twelve planets, and therefore worth encontering.

Link

Bangladesh

7 to hang for Holey Artisan terror attack

2019-12-06

[Dhaka Tribune] A Dhaka court on Wednesday delivered the verdict in the Holey Artisan Bakery attack case, sentencing seven New JMB bully boyz to death and acquitting one of all charges.

The July 1, 2016, carnage saw 23 people killed, including 17 foreigners and two coppers, and ended when an army commando team stormed the cafe premises in Gulshan and shot the five attackers dead the next day.

The seven condemned to death are: Md Aslam Hossain alias Rashed alias Ryash, Jahangir Hossain alias Rajib Gandhi, Abdus Sabur Khan alias Sohel Mahfuz, Hadisur Rahman Sagor, Rakibul Islam Regan, Shariful Islam Khaled, and Mamunur Rashid Ripon.

The court ordered hanging them till death, apart from fining them Tk50,000 each.

The verdict, pronounced by Judge Md Majibur Rahman of the Anti Terrorism Special Tribunal, drew shouts of "Allahu Akbar" from the convicts, who showed no remorse.

Of the seven, Jahangir, Aslam, Shariful, and Sabur, were among those who planned the attack, Hadisur and Ripon supplied the arms, and Regan was the religious trainer of the attackers.

Jahangir also recruited the five cafe attackers: Nibras Islam, Mir Sabeh Mubashir, Rohan Imtiaz, Khairul Islam Payel, and Shafiqul Islam Uzzal.

The eighth accused in the case, Mizanur Rahman alias Boro Mizan, was acquitted of all charges as the charges were not proved beyond doubt by the prosecution.

All eight were either top leaders or members of New JMB, a splinter faction of banned Death Eater outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working toward establishing Bangladesh as an Islamic state in the mid 1990s, which remains obscure and probably defunct today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. The JMB at its peak was reported to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade, few of whom actually exploded. JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Libya. Reports have claimed that funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Saudi Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. The top leadership of JMB was captured in 2005 and hung in 2007, which pretty much shot their bolt.
, or JMB.

The accused were brought to the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court premises around 10:15am, where security was beefed up ahead of the verdict in the case filed for the deadliest terror attack in Bangladesh’s history.

The state counsels said they were happy with the verdict and will appeal to a higher court if necessary, against Boro Mizan’s acquittal.

Defence lawyers said the witness testimonies and evidence were inconsistent, and they will definitely move to the higher courts challenging the verdict.

Inspector General of Police Dr Javed Patwary said the police was pleased with the sentencing, save for the acquittal of Boro Mizan. He said they will ask the prosecution to appeal against it.

Link

Bangladesh

RAB arrests two suspected JMB members in Dhaka

2019-10-31

[Dhaka Tribune] Rapid Action Battalion

(RAB) have arrested two suspected members of banned holy warrior outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working toward establishing Bangladesh as an Islamic state in the mid 1990s, which remains obscure and probably defunct today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. The JMB at its peak was reported to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade, few of whom actually exploded. JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Libya. Reports have claimed that funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Saudi Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. The top leadership of JMB was captured in 2005 and hung in 2007, which pretty much shot their bolt.
(JMB).

They were arrested from Mirpur's Rupnagar area of Dhaka early Wednesday.

“Stick ‘em up, boys, and come quietly, or we shall be forced to have an encounter.”
“Aieee! Not an encounter! We’ll come quietly, we will. Aieee.”
“Aieee! Quietly, yes. Aieeeeee!”

The arrestees are Shahjalal, 30, and Shamim, 28, from Barisal and Munshiganj.

RAB legal and media wing Senior Assistant Director Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan said: "They are active members of JMB."

"We are questioning them and will soon take legal action."

“Sergeant Rafiq, send out for tea and biscuits, and a barrel of #4 mustache wax. It’s going to br a long night.”

RAB 4 Senior ASP Sajedul Islam Sajal said: "They were on their way to Cox’s Bazar to recruit Rohingyas for JMB."

...illegals doing the jobs ~~good~~ bad Bangladeshis won’t do...

"Earlier, they managed to include some Rohingyas in their group."

This explains the poor quality of miscreants they’ve been seeing recently. You get what you pay for, I always say.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
the ASP did not reveal the name of Rohingyas, allegedly involved with JMB.

Yup. They vanished as if they had never been. Shipman could have told you.

RAB also recovered arms,

...the hands were stored elsewhere...

bully boy books and leaflets from their possession.

Link

Bangladesh

7 ABT members arrested from Narayanganj, Pabna

2019-10-14

[Dhaka Tribune] Members of Rapid Action Battalion

(RAB) arrested 7 suspected members of banned bully boy outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) from Narayanganj, and Pabna on Sunday.

In Narayanganj, RAB 11 arrested two suspected activists of ABT when they were holding a secret meeting in the dead of night at a madrasa under Fatullah cop shoppe in the early hours.

The arrested are Md Mehedi Hossain, alias Murad, 24, and Md Amanullah, 33, confirmed RAB 11 Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Md Alep Uddin.

Mehedi told RAB that he completed his Bachelor of Science degree from a private textile university in Dhaka in 2016, he joined JMB in 2014. He was reaching out across the country to gather recruits up until now. Md Amanullah was a madrasa teacher in Narayanganj who joined ABT through Mehedi. Amanullah secretly held meetings of the JMB members in his madrasa.

The RAB seized a large number of books, and a laptop containing digital data on extremism from their possession.

In Pabna, RAB 14 arrested five suspected activists of ABT from Bera, and Santhia upazila.

The arrested from Bera upazila are: Md Abdullah, 21, and Abul Kalam Azad, 27, of Shambhupur village; Md Wazed Ali, 30, of Hatiagara village, and Mizanur Rahman Mizan, 23, of Chhoto Paina village.

Another arrested Ruhul Amin, 23, hails from Rangamatia village in Santhia upazila.

Bera cop shoppe OC Sheikh Mahmud said: "RAB handed over the suspected ABT members to us this evening (Sunday). Books on extremism was found in their possession.”

Link

Bangladesh

RAB arrests suspected militants planning to kill newspaper editor

2019-02-02

[Dhaka Tribune] Rapid Action Battalion

(RAB) has enjugged
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
four suspected members of the banned Lion of Islam outfit Ansar al-Islam also known as Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), accused of planning to kill a daily newspaper editor.

RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan disclosed the information at a press briefing at RAB’s Media Centre, in Karwan Bazar, around 11:30am on Friday.

The RAB official also said: "The suspects were planning to kill an editor of a national daily newspaper, which published a criticism of a hadith - record of the traditions or sayings of Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!) on marriage."

They were arrested in Uttara area around 2am on Friday.

The RAB official also mentioned arresting another ABT member ‐ Abdus Sobhan alias Habib, 28 ‐ in Ashulia area on January 28.

Based on information provided by Sobhan, RAB 1 conducted a drive in Uttara and arrested the four.

The arrestees are Shahriar Nafis Ammar Hossain, 20, Md Rasel alias Sajedul Islam Gifary, 24, Rabiul Islam alias Nurul Islam, 24, and Abdul Malek, 31.

The RAB media director said the suspects were accused of monitoring secular activists on social media platforms, where they were posing as an online activist ‐ all of themusing a single profile.

They also had planned to kill those who criticized Islam on social media.

Mufti Mahmud said they have foiled the ABT’s mission of killing those who posted negative statements about Islam.

’THEY ARE TRYING TO REVIVE THE ORGANIZATION’
Mufti Mahmud said after initial interrogation, RAB learnt that the suspects were trying, secretly, to revive the organization.

Their main objective was to free the organization’s chief, Jasimuddin Rahmani, from jail. They even had plans to break Jasim out of jail if the failed to get him released through legal means.

"The RAB officials recovered some krazed killer books, mobile phones and sharp weapons from the suspects’ possession at the time of the arrest. During the initial questioning, they confessed to being active members of ABT," said this RAB official.

He said the groups were mainly monitoring online activists.

"One of the Lion of Islams, Shahriar, joined a group with atheist members, using a fake name. The holy warriors were planning to kill one of the members [of the atheists’ group], as decided by the Lion of Islam outfit,"headded.

During interrogation, one of the suspectssaid he went to Bogra from Dhaka with a sharp weapon last week,while another went to Bogra from Barguna, the RAB official said at the press briefing.

"The ABT man, who went to Bogra, called one of the online activists over phone to meet him, but the online activist did not show up at the meeting place," he added.

Among the arrestees, Shahriar, from Dhunot upazila in Bogra, studied till Class 7 in a madrasa. He joined the ABT under the influence of an ABT member named Aman whom he met on Facebook.

The RAB official added: "Rasel, from Fulgachia in Bhola, passed SSC exams in 2013 and took a job in an RMG factory. Later, he worked as a construction worker. He, too, was influenced by Aman into joining ABT.

"Rasel was the point person for communication with different people, collecting money from them and recruiting members, as per the ABT high command’s directive."

The RAB media wing director further added: "Nurul, who is from Bogra, passed his Dakhil examination in 2010, later took admission in Bogra Polytechnic Institute in 2015. He was radicalized by Shahriar."

Malek, a driver by profession, was influenced by Rasel through social media and joined ABT in 2018, he added.

RAB is currently preparing to take legal action against the detainees, the RAB official said.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More