While leaders of banned militant outfits have been floating new platforms to strengthen themselves and evade prosecution, fresh recruits are kept in the dark about their top leaders and even the names of the outfits.
Only the top-level leaders and recruiters are aware of the organisational structure, financiers and the international groups that patronise them, say detectives.
During the recruitment process, which is done with utmost secrecy, the recruiters follow targeted youths for some time, collect information about their profession, family and friends, and then invite them to the path of jihad.
The groups of recruiters are governed by leaders at higher echelon of the outfits, but they are also mostly unaware fully about the organisations.
The process is styled in a way that the targets would start to believe the versions placed by the recruits that describe the plights of Muslims in the country and around the world. Often the organisers use fake news reports, photos and videos to create sympathy in the fresh minds and instigate harsh action against their enemies.
The recruits are then given jihadi books, audio and video clips on the past and ongoing battles and the leaders; provided with Bangla versions of training manuals available online; and website addresses where more like-minded people from home and abroad are interacting.
Hatred towards the “enemies of armed jihad and radical views” are planted in their minds so that they learn about their possible targets and new destinations and do not hesitate when the leaders ask them to launch attacks.
Currently, they are being prepared to join the international Islamist groups fighting in Iraq, Syria and Yemen with a long-term plan to work more actively when they return home.
Detectives have learnt about such organograms and process of work after interrogating the militants arrested recently in the capital and Chittagong. In most cases, the law enforcers recovered bombs and bomb-making materials and manuals which give a vivid picture of their progress.
They say due to persistent crackdown on militant dens, online surveillance and strict measures to stop militant financing, members of the outlawed groups are now switching organisations while in some cases the group leaders are affiliating themselves under a common new platform to strengthen their activities.
So far, existence of two such platforms has been unearthed by the law enforcers – Bangladesh Jihadi Group and Junud at-Tawheed Wal Khilafah (JATWK). Inspired by international terrorist groups Islamic State, al-Qaeda and Taliban, these platforms are inviting the members of all banned and little-known militant organisations to work together.
The number of coordinators in the Jihadi Group is around 50 while it has over 100 members, a high official of the Detective Branch of police said. On the other hand, the newly-formed JATWK has been successful in recruiting around 15 members.
Though the militant groups were based on different ideologies professed by their spiritual leaders, detectives say now their aim is the same – establishing Shariah law in the country by undermining the democratic process, castigating the rulers and terrorising the secular forces and the law enforcers.
Such campaigns have got momentum in 2012 and 2013 when Islamists took to the streets and actively participated in online propaganda, instigated by the religion-based political parties, platforms and some media outlets, started claiming that Islam is not safe in the hands of the incumbent atheist government and its corrupt administration.
Easy access to mosques and madrasas, and participation in religious functions have been a boon for them to preach their ideologies and attract more fresh members.
These factors contributed significantly to the rise of more educated youths joining the radical groups with an aim to serve Islam by eliminating the blasphemers at home and abroad.
Until 2009, the subsequent governments declared outlawed five militant groups – Shahadat-e-al Hikma, Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HujiB) and Hizb ut-Tahrir. Ansarullah Bangla Team was banned on May 25 this year.
Detectives say after they were outlawed many leaders of these groups quit to form new groups and started recruiting fresh members as managing funds is not too tough. Many businessmen, executives and even ordinary Muslims help such endeavours grow considering it as their duty to serve Islam.
At present, almost all the militant groups have targeted recruitment for the IS as their prime job. Once the fighters return home after the wars, these skilled militants would be able to train the freshers effectively.
Another aim of sending jihadists to the battlefields is to create links with the international groups and the financiers.
Such move was seen in the ‘80s and ‘90s when many Bangladeshi radical Islamists joined the Afghanistan war. The local militants have been supported by al-Qaeda and Taliban since then to establish Shariah law in the country.
Detectives say in the last one year, the international groups have advanced towards South Asia and got sympathisers among the Bangladeshi militant groups. They aim at establishing an Islamic country incorporating parts of Bangladesh, Myanmar and India by 2020, and to expand further when succeeded.
Mohammad Shahjahan, additional deputy commissioner of DB police, said they had found proof of collaboration among all these groups following the recent arrests.
On May 25, DB police arrested Coca-Cola IT chief Aminul Islam Begh and English medium schoolteacher Sakib Bin Kamal who were recruiting members including female jihadists for the IS.
After the arrest of JATWK chief Abdullah Al Ghalib, coordinator of Ansarullah, it is now known that he had been able to gather at least 10 to 15 people and trained them to fight for IS.
Shahjahan said apart from the JMB and Ansarullah, members of Hizb ut-Tahrir and Jamaat-e-Islami too opted to join the IS and establish caliphate upon return.
Leaders of these groups have regular contact with the IS high-ups.
Maulana Nurullah Kashemi, a top leader of Bangladesh Jihadi Group, and eight of his associates were arrested in the capital last week. During its formation last year, this group was blessed by HujiB chief Maulana Abdur Rouf and assisted by their members to shelter the jihadists. Three of the eight arrestees previously worked with Ansarullah.
Meanwhile, even though the law enforcers claimed to have taken stricter surveillance measures and conducted operations against the militants and radical Islamists, the resources available online are yet to be blocked or removed – paving way for the new recruits to go through the provocative documents.
For instance, the text, audio and video versions of sermons given by Ansarullah chief Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani are available on several websites and Facebook pages. Jasim, who professed killing of atheists as a duty of Muslims, was arrested in August 2013.
Moreover, the profiles used by Ansarullah on Facebook and Twitter have been actively propagating to kill secular activists who are vocal on eliminating the radicals and demand ban on religion-based politics.
Ansarullah has already claimed responsibility for the murder of blogger Ahmed Rajeeb Haider, Rajshahi University teacher Prof AKM Shafiul Islam, Mukto-Mona blog founder Avijit Roy, online activist Oyasiqur Rahman Babu and secular writer Ananta Bijoy Das. Except for the Rajeeb murder case, the law enforcers have failed to solve the mystery behind the other killings that have created panic among the secular forces of the country.
