In an attempt to boost its militant activities and secure a steady sources of funding, the banned outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) has reportedly taken on a new strategy – recruiting young people from affluent families.
“As part of their primary initiative, the JMB targeted the young generation from posh areas and started their work in high-profile education institutes like North South University with hopes that the youths will easily be managed by only a little nurturing,” a senior official of the Detective Branch (DB) of Police, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday on condition of anonymity.
The information was extracted during the two-day remand of seven JMB members including its acting chief Abdullah al-Tasnim, who were arrested from Ashulia early Friday. The six other arrested JMB members are Md Nayem Ali, Md Sikandar Ali alias Noki, Mahmud Ibne Bashar, Md Masum Billah, Fuad Hasan and Ali Ahmed.
After the remand ended on Sunday, DB Sub-Inspector Mozammel Hossain placed the seven arrestees before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Mizanur Rahman seeking a 20-day remand in two cases. The magistrate granted a fresh two-day remand in a terrorism case and another five-day remand on an explosive case.
Meanwhile, the senior DB official, who took part in the interrogation, said the lack of funding as well law enforcers’ constant monitoring on JMB activities had made the JMB weak in recent times, forcing the outfit to rely only on the donations from its members and sponsors.
This limitation prompted the JMB to formulate a new strategy of recruiting wealthy members who would both increase the outfit’s strength in numbers and in funds.
The DB official said one of the arrestees – Noki – was a final year electrical engineering student at North South University. Noki came from a high-profile family as his father was a member of Brahmanbaria Bar Association (name not mentioned for investigation purpose), the DB official said.
Like Noki, the JMB was aiming to recruit members who could provide both the financial and the technical support needed, he said, adding that Noki and JMB acting chief Tasnim had confessed during interrogation that the outfit had already recruited a number of students from posh areas.
DB sources said the JMB also had plans of starting educational institutions in posh areas like Uttara’s Jashimuddin Road – a site which had already been selected – in order to carry out the recruitment process by evading the eyes of law enforcers. The militant outfit was reportedly following such plans as it wanted to assert dominance in posh areas and higher-education institutions as well as continuing to maintain its stronghold in madrasas.
Sanowar Hossain, additional deputy commissioner of DB police, admitted to the Dhaka Tribune that they have come to know that the JMB wanted to recruit students from educational institutions in posh areas and also planned on opening some institutes in Uttara area, but were yet to get details about how many people had joined the outfit.
Such strategies were reportedly formed inside the walls of high-security jails by senior-ranked militant leaders.
Asked how messages regarding the new strategies reached those outside the prison walls, an official of an intelligence agency, asking not to be named, said such directives were reportedly handed out when a jailed person went to jail gate to meet someone, or when someone came out on bail, or during hearings at court.
Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of DB police, told the Dhaka Tribune that the interrogation of the arrested JMB members have revealed some sensational information including communication methods from inside jail, the murder of Channel i presenter Faruki, and different destructive activities. More mysteries would be sorted out after the interrogation is completed, he added.