Police: Jamaat-Shibir working with Ansarullah in Ctg

Leaders and mid-level activists of Jamaat-Shibir are patronising and working with banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team to carry out subversive activities in Chittagong, the port city police have said. They made the claim after arresting five suspected Ansarullah members – one of them a Shibir leader – from Patenga's Katgor area early Monday; two laptops and 11 books on jihad were found in their possession. The arrestees are Md Akkas Ali alias Jahedul Islam Nayon, 23; Md Atiqul Hasan Emon, 26; Jamshedul Alam Hridoy, 21; Md Rubel, 26; and Md Mohiuddin, 18. According to the police, Akkas Ali, a second year student of political science at Chittagong Government College is a Shithi or a top leader of Shibir; Rubel is a fourth semester BBA student at the city’s Southern University; Atiqul is an MCom student at Chittagong Commerce College; Jamshed is a second year Bangla student at Omar Gani MES College; and Mohiuddin is a madrasa drop-out. “Being tipped off, a team of detectives raided a rented flat of Akkas at Sher-e-Patenga building’s fourth floor around 12:45am and detained the five active [Ansarullah] operatives while they were holding a secret meeting,” Deputy Commissioner (Bandar) Maruf Hossen told a press conference. “Shibir leader Akkas led the meeting while three to four other Ansarullah operatives managed to escape arrest during the police drive. “Jamaat-Shibir leaders have been patronising Ansarullah militants under new names and new techniques while Jamaat was trying to carry out subversive activities with the help of militant groups,” DC Maruf said. “The [arrested] Ansarullah men have direct connections with Musayeb Ibn Omayer, the Baitulmal secretary of Ansarullah, who had been arrested along with three other Ansarullah men from Sitakunda upazila on July 11,” he added. The arrested would be produced before a court with a ten-day remand plea in a case filed with Patenga police station, DC Maruf said. Musayeb Ibn Omayer alias Piklu Das was arrested last month for plotting to attack key instalments in the Sitakunda area. “During initial interrogation, the five Ansarullah men confessed that Omayer alias Piklu and Jamshed earlier held several meetings with the arrested Ansarullah men to instigate them into militancy,” Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) (Port-South) Nazmul Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune. “As a number of Key Point Instalments (KPI) are located in the Patenga area, police have been working to find out whether the Ansarullah men had any plan to carry out militant attack on KPIs.” A DB official, who is not authorised to talk to media, told the Dhaka Tribune that the names of the five latest arrestees were among 12 alleged terror plotters who Omayer named during interrogation. ADC Nazmul said Ansarullah men were adopting a “cut-out” system to protect their identities while organising in Chittagong.