Since September last year, police claimed to have arrested about 20 suspected Islamic State members, militants having contacts or trying to establish link with the terrorist outfit.
The presence of IS activities in Bangladesh was first reported by Indian newspaper Times of India on September 6, 2014. It reported the arrest of four youths who were trying to cross the border to meet an IS handler in Bangladesh to join the organisation.
The youths admitted before the police that 11 more youths from Hyderabad were in touch with various IS handlers, according to the report.
On September 19 last year, the cops claimed to have arrested seven members of the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) for establishing contact with the IS.
Just a week later, police arrested Asif Adnan, 26, and Fazle Elahi Tanzil, 24, who had allegedly been planning to go to Syria through Turkey with the help of a British citizen who came to Dhaka to recruit potential jihadists. Police told the press that the UK citizen of Bangladeshi origin was in Dhaka to recruit fighters for IS.
The British citizen, Samiun Rahman alias Ibn Hamdan, was shown arrested two days later.
Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) told journalists: Samiun promised that he would take the interested Bangladeshis to different parts of Syria where several militant groups including Islamic State, al-Qaeda and al-Nusra Front raised jihad.
“From his passport we came to know that he went to Syria in September last year and took part in the demonstration against Bashar al-Assad,” the DMP spokesperson had said.
On September 25, police arrested one Hafizur and identified him as a ring leader of IS. Hafizur ran his own militant organisation in Bangladesh.
On January 18 this year, detectives claimed to have arrested four suspected members of militant outfit IS, including its coordinator in Bangladesh, in the city’s Jatrabari area. The arrestees were actually involved with JMB but joined al-Qaeda. With the emergence of IS, all were preparing to work for the terrorist group, claimed the detectives.
On May 24, the cops arrested a regional coordinator of JMB named Aminul and his accomplice Sakib bin Kamal. They had been trying to send operatives to Iraq and Syria from Bangladesh. The police told the press that Aminul had so far selected 20 people from among the JMB operatives across the country, many of whom are ready to leave the country to join IS in Iraq and Syria.
Later on May 30, police arrested Abdullah Al Ghalib, allegedly a recruiter of the IS and a militancy trainer. During primary interrogation, Ghalib said that he was an active assistant coordinator of Ansarullah Bangla Team and member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. On June 19, the cops arrested one Fida Muntasir Al Shaker, who allegedly admitted to the police that he recruited activists for the IS through the internet and later trained them at his home.
On June 21, the cops claimed to have arrested one IS suspect Faiyaz Ishmam Khan.
Besides, on June 26, the cops arrested the commander and a financer of the newly formed militant outfit ‘Bangladesh Jihadi Group’. During interrogation, two suspects – Asad and Tomal – said they sought help from some retired and sacked defence officials to train up some group members. They said they would send the trained members to Syria and Afghanistan to join in jihad. However the cops did not say if these two were involved with the IS.
Source: The Daily Star
