Members of Jamaat-e-Islami and several outlawed Islamist militant groups have built up a strong base in the Chittagong Hill Tracts to carry out massive attacks on the indigenous peoples and their establishments.
Intelligence agencies and law enforcement agency sources have said that they already foiled some plans, recovered arms and bombs meant for conducting the attacks, and kept under watch at least 32 websites instigating communal attacks.
These groups are now mobilising the anti-government quarters in the three hill districts and sharing information about the possible attacks among themselves through social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
The government's Cyber Crime Unit officials found the information monitoring online activities of the religious extremists. The unit has also informed the law enforcement and intelligence agencies about their findings and requested them to take necessary measures.
The information came at a time when several law enforcement agencies together with BGB and army personnel have been conducting joint drives against terrorists in the CHT.
Apart from Jamaat, the other outlawed militant groups involved with the network are Hizb ut-Tahrir, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh and Ansarullah Bangla Team. Sources said that these groups had established connection with some Myanmar-based terrorist organisations including the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO).
Based on the findings of the Cyber Crime Unit, the law enforcers conducted a drive at the house of Jamaat leader Tofail Ahmed, also chairman of Naikkhyangchhari upazila, and recovered three shotguns. Tofail allegedly masterminded the 2013 Ramu attacks when dozens of Buddhist temples, monasteries and houses were attacked based on false propaganda.
The law enforcers have also found the involvement of two former lawmakers with these sabotage plans and would take legal action once the allegations are proven during investigation. In the face of strict surveillance, two top leaders of the network fled the country recently, officials said.
“We have tracked down 32 websites where the extremists share their information among the members. Analysing the sites and decoding some messages, we have found some sensational information including sabotage plans,” said Tanvir Hassan Zoha, director of Insight Bangladesh Foundation and focal person of the ICT Ministry’s Cyber Security Programme.
Without elaborating further, Zoha said that they were very close to busting a huge network of extremists working in the CHT region.
Dhaka Tribune has learnt about some of the websites currently under close monitoring. They are Al-Hayat Media Centre, Voice of Islamic Jihad and Al-Amin's blog. The radicals are also using some Facebook pages including Hamza, Ansar Ul Islam, At-Tamkin Media and Daowatul Islam; and profiles that include Moumachi Moumachi, Sadapata and Jihadi Jeen.
When contacted, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that certain quarters, who had been involved in the killing of foreigners and attacks at some places last year to embarrass the government, were now working on a new plan in the CHT.
“They have been found sharing information regarding the plans through online activities and some closed groups. Our officials are on alert to bring the criminals to book,” the minister added.