The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has conducted an operation in the remote hills of Thanchi in Bandarban to exhume the body of a Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya militant, but found the grave empty.
Members of the elite force believe the body was removed from the grave before the operation.
Ruma Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) and Executive Magistrate Mamun Shibli said little evidence was found at the burial site, but whatever was found has been brought back.
After returning from the burial site on Monday morning, the UNO said RAB had conducted the operation as the court cleared an order to exhume the body.
According to RAB sources, five militants were arrested in operations in Thanchi and Rowangchhari on January 11. The detained militants gave information that a militant named Al Amin, son of Nurul Islam of Comilla, was buried near a mountain jhiri in Remakri Pransha Union of Thanchi, bordering Myanmar. He was a member of Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya.
Al Amin fell sick and died in the Jordan camp of KNF on November 25 and was buried next to Pahari Jhiri, according to the militants.
Md Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Ruma police station, said that they found the grave following the information from the five arrested militants. Later, they informed the court about the matter.
According to RAB, an operation was conducted to recover the body with the help of helicopters on Sunday. But the body had been removed from the grave before the RAB members arrived.
Some clothes and temporary camp equipment were found in and around the grave, as well as five rounds of ammunition. Two of the arrested militants, identified as Saleh Ahmed and Shithil, accompanied RAB officials during the operation.
At the time of digging the grave, a total of twenty people, including the UNO, police, RAB and army personnel, were present. They returned without finding the body.
RAB Media Wing Director Khandaker Al Moin said the raid was conducted based on information that a militant's body was buried in a remote area, but it was not clear who removed the body from the grave.
Our Bandarban correspondent S Basu Das contributed to this report