DMP: Akash’s link to Gulshan terror attack not confirmed

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police chief yesterday said that they were yet to find any evidence that the fugitive Bangladeshi terrorist who was deported by the Malaysian authorities on September 2 had any involvement with the Gulshan cafe attack. Peyar Ahmed Akash of Feni was wanted in an arms case, “but there is no evidence of his terrorist link,” DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah told reporters after a programme at Tejgaon in Dhaka. Akash was first arrested on September 18, 2005 for selling off AK47 rifles stolen from the 10-truck arms seized in Chittagong in 2004. He came out of jail on bail and went to Malaysia – thanks to his brother-in-law Abu Yusuf, the nayeb-e-ameer of Feni district unit Jamaat-e-Islami. Malaysian police arrested him on August 19 this year in a crackdown for smuggling weapons for an international terror group and deported to Bangladesh on September 2. The following day, DB police handed him over to Dagonbhuiyan police. Jamaat leader Yusuf again managed the police to provide Akash extra facilities while in custody. On September 4, he was shown arrested in the arms case as an absconder and sent to jail through the District Joint Sessions Judge’s Court. The court has so far recorded depositions of 14 out of the 19 witnesses. Akash was facing Interpol red notice after the Bangladesh government had requested the international organisation for his arrest. In the last two days, several Malaysian newspapers reported quoting police that Akash had met Gulshan terror attack suspects at his restaurant Rasana Bilash in Kuala Lumpur. One newspaper even named Andaleeb Ahmed, claiming that he used to go to the restaurant. Andaleeb was a classmate of Gulshan attacker Nibras Islam at Monash University in Malaysia. A number of other like-minded terrorists killed or remain missing studied at that university. Moreover, several top militant leaders are also hiding in Malaysia, detectives say. At his restaurant, Akash also campaigned against the ongoing war crimes trials in Bangladesh. “There is no evidence that he is involved in the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan or any militant activities,” the commissioner told reporters. He said that the Malaysian government had not given them any information about Akash’s militant connection. “But the police will investigate the matter,” he added. At the event, the DMP chief lauded the role of the police against militants in the recent past. He said that the US was assisting the Bangladesh police with technical supports and training to increase efficiency.