Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested five men allegedly involved with the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
They were detained from Barisal’s Muladi upazila and Dhaka’s Badda area on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The arrested men are identified as Sultan Nasir Uddin, 39, Md Rafiquel Islam alias Yousuf, 28, Md Alamgir Hossain, 30, Md Mohidul Islam alias Saifullah, 22, and Md Harun-ur-Rashid, 28.
Acting on an intelligence tip-off, a team of RAB-8 conducted a raid at south Kazirzhar in Barisal’s Muladi upazila around 6:30pm on Tuesday and nabbed Sultan.
During the raid, RAB members recovered books and leaflets containing elements of extremism, said a RAB spokesperson during a press release on Wednesday.
In a similar counterterrorism raid on Wednesday, members of RAB-1 detained Yousuf, Alamgir, Mohidul and Harun in Dhaka’s Badda area.
During the operation, 7 books, 3 magazines, one notebook, 2 laptops, one keyboard, 7 mobile phone sets, 15 SIM cards and a cash of Tk2,900 were recovered from their possession, said released.
The crime busting elite force claimed that the men are believed to have been involved with the JMB and are active members of the banned militant outfit.
RAB claimed that Sultan Nasir Uddin was highly inspired in extremist activities in 2010 after being motivated by Jasim Uddin Rahmani, a spiritual leader.
Later, he was further indoctrinated with extremist ideologies of JMB. Since 2015, Sultan did travel around many parts of the country including Jessore, Chittagong, Barguna, Dhaka, Tangail, Gazipur -- in an effort to recruit operatives for JMB.
Rafiqul Islam Yousuf got himself involved in militancy by a JMB operative Rajiv who was close to him.
They rented a house in the Tongi College Gate area along with Naim, Russell, Emon, Raihan, Zaheer and two others in order to carry out terror activities.
Having stayed there for a month, they moved to the Signboard area, said RAB.
In the press release RAB also said that Alamgir was attracted to extremism during his studies and employment at a madrasa, where Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani worked during the year 2011-12.
Following arrest of Rahmani, Alamgir Hossain went into hiding. Later, he joined the JMB.
Meanwhile, Mohidul and Harun's close acquaintance with the accused Alamgir, precipitated their involved in militancy. RAB said the two men regularly participated in activities of the organization.