RAB has arrested three lawyers, including daughter of BNP leader and former whip Syed Wahidul Alam, on charges of financing militancy in Bangladesh.
Barrister Shakila Farjana and Hasanuzzaman Liton are the Supreme Court’s lawyers. The third arrestee Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapan is an advocate of Dhaka Judges Court.
After their arrest at Dhaka, they were brought before the media at RAB-7 headquarters in Chittagong’s Patenga on Wednesday afternoon.
A court remanded them in RAB custody for four days.
They were arrested on the basis of the statement given before court by Maniruzzuman Don, one of the main organisers of Syed Hamza Brigade, and the scrutiny of his bank accounts, said RAB-7 Commander Lieutenant Colonel Mifta Uddin.
The RAB, after conducting raids in Chittagong’s Hathazari and other places since February this year arrested 29 members of the Hamza Brigade.
A large cache of arms and ammunition were also seized.
Shakila Farjana’s father Alam is a former MP of Hathazari.
RAB claimed the organisation was planning to work like an NGO.
Lt Col Mifta Uddin said following the court orders and with the cooperation of the Bangladesh Bank they traced over TK 13 million collected for the Hamza Brigade after scrutinising bank accounts.
“Of these, the arrested lawyers deposited over Tk 10.8 million. Shakila Farjana deposited Tk 5.2 million in two instalments of Tk 2.5 million and Tk 2.7 million. Liton deposited Tk 3.1 million and Bapon contributed Tk 2.5 million,” the RAB commander said.
The arrested lawyers used to contribute the money through the bank accounts of Maniruzzuman Don.
“In his statement before the court, Maniruzzuman had revealed that the money in his accounts was used for various activities of the organisation, including purchase of arms,” he said.
The RAB official further said Maniruzzuman had also admitted that Shakila Farjana used to deposit money into his account.
“As per the Bangladesh Bank’s rule to deposit beyond certain amount into any account, a form needs to be filled out. The arrestees used to deposit the money fulfilling that condition,” he said.
The RAB official said there was no political motive behind the arrest of the BNP leader’s daughter.
“We have arrested her on the basis of confession made before the court and the evidence gathered from bank accounts. Let her now go to court and prove that she did not deposit the amount,” Lt Col Mifta Uddin said.
The RAB official claimed they traced some other bank accounts of the Hamza Brigade and that those were being checked.
“There are some more financiers,” he said.
Twenty-eight, out of the 29 arrested militants, had given statements before the court.
Four activists of ‘Shaheed Hamza Brigade’ were arrested from Chittagong in April this year by RAB with AK-22 rifles, pistols and ammunitions
The RAB came to know that apart from the arrested lawyers, a citizen of Dubai named Allama Libadi, too, was funding the Hamza Brigade.
“In his statement, Maniruzzuman revealed that Allama Libadi visited Bangladesh on several occasions and had contributed in cash and through banks to the organisation’s coffer,” said Mifta Uddin.
The lawyers had been shown arrested in a cased filed over the seizure of arms and ammunition from a terrorist hideout in Banshkhali’s Lotmoni hills on Feb 21.
The RAB-7 commander at the press conference said during interrogation, they would find out how the trio got this huge money.
The founders of the Hamza Brigade had earlier associated with Islami Chhatra Shibir and Hifazat-e Islam, said Lt Col Mifta Uddin.
“They had planned to start the activities of Hamza Brigade under the name of Love for Rohingya (LFR) as an NGO, but did not succeed.”
Though the organisation is based in Chittagong, its activists are run from other districts of Bangladesh, according to RAB.
To recruit members and mobilise public support, the members of the Hamza Brigade used to campaign against the atrocities on Rohingya’s of Myanmar and alleged desecration of the Quran in various countries, the RAB official said.
He said the elite police unit was working to nab other members of the organisation and trace its source of funds and financiers.
Lawyers’ ‘terror link’ worries AG
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam has expressed concern over the alleged involvement of Supreme Court lawyers in terror funding.
“Is it not an ominous sign for us?” he asked at a discussion after the news of the arrest was made public on Wednesday.
The senior Supreme Court lawyer said it was the first instance of lawyers being allegedly involved in terror funding and pointed out that at one point of time, courts were the main targets of terrorists.
“It is a matter of grave concern for us. We lawyers have never been supportive of extremism or terrorism. This is a new phenomenon,” he said.
However, the attorney general did not utter any “final word” on the issue as it was under investigation.
Source: Bd news24