With seven major religion-based murder cases lying unsolved for two years, the police yesterday reached out to the media to help solve the crimes.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Haque yesterday sought assistance from the media to help bring the killers of several prominent secular bloggers to book.
He earlier called for the creation of a counter-terrorism bureau to solve such crimes.
A testament to the difficulty of tracking down cell-based terrorists, not just the Detective Branch (DB) of police but the Rapid Action Battalion that deals with militancy has failed to shed light on the cases of extremist violence.
The murderers of five atheist and secular bloggers barely left a digital footprint, eschewing the use of cell phones, using aliases on Facebook and other social media, and operating from web sites without valid IP addresses.
The killers of two Islamic religious personalities – a local holy man and a television preacher – also carried out their crimes with considerable stealth. The murderers are thought to be motivated by Islamist extremist ideologies.
At a briefing in the conference room of police headquarters yesterday, the IGP said the police had made out the facial features of some of the killers but had no further details about them.
“The attacks on the bloggers utilised specialised techniques, making it difficult to employ countermeasures,” the IGP said, adding that information from the media could help lead to arrests.
When asked about providing bloggers with security, the police chief said his staff did not currently have a list of bloggers but were preparing one.
The IGP said: “Individual bloggers can make themselves known to us, then we can work to ensure their security.”
Although the police have made arrests, the masterminds behind the terrorist networks remain beyond reach because operatives often do not know the others in their group, know very little about overall operations and so have little information to divulge, investigators said.
The IGP said investigations of all the unsolved cases were being carried out, adding that such crimes would be more quickly solved if a proposed counter-terrorism bureau was set up.
In addition to the slaying of the five bloggers, two murders believed to be connected to religious sentiments have also lain unsolved for two years.
The Gopibagh Six murder case of 2013, in which local holy man Lutfor Rahman and five others were slain on December 21, 2013 in the capital’s Gopibagh area remains an inscrutable mystery to investigators.
The murder of faith-based television show presenter Nurul Islam Faruqi on August 27 last year also remains a cold case.
One prominent criminologist and academic has said strict punishment of the killers is the best way to stop the spate of killings and to deter further violence.
Professor Zia Rahman, chairman of the criminology department of Dhaka University, told the Dhaka Tribune that ensuring the killers are punished is the surest way to tackle the menace of ideologically-driven murder.
“Killing people for expressing their views is a horrific crime,” he said.
Blogger Ahmed Rajeeb Haider was killed on February 15, 2013. The charge-sheeted accused of the case, Redwanul Azad Rana, is still at large despite a Tk5 lakh bounty on his head.
Last September 30, Daffodil University computer science student and online activist Ashraful Alam was killed. His killers have not been tracked down either.
Scientist and blogger Avijit Roy was murdered on February 26, blogger Oyasiqur Rahman Babu was murdered on March 30 and, most recently, blogger Ananta Bijoy Das was murdered on May 12.
Their killers have not yet been tracked down and law enforcers admit that the motives for the murders remain unclear.
Investigators say the only thing they know for sure is that all of the victims were bloggers.
DB Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that Islamist extremists had adopted sleeper cell tactics to carry out the killings. This involves operatives unfamiliar to each other working together to carry out a mission.
The technique is called the “cut off” or “cut to cut” system, investigators said.
“We are aware of these tactics and are trying to trace the killers using our experience in solving such cases,” Monirul said.
The DB joint commissioner said some of the suspects initially were involved with Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, but all are now affiliated with Ansarullah Bangla Team. “We believe the killers belong to Ansarullah.”
Asked about moves to ban Ansarullah Bangla Team, IGP Shahidul yesterday said the proposal was with the Home Ministry. “If this outfit is ultimately banned, then six militant outfits, Ansarullah inclusive, will have been banned so far.”
