The newly formed militant platform – Bangladesh Jihadi Group – has reportedly been working to recruit youths with low-income backgrounds as it was easier to lure them to a militant way of life with promises of bearing all the costs of their families.
“Under the new recruiting method, militants visit random areas of the country and propose [youths] to join the way of Allah in exchange for all of their family expenditures being taken care of,” a senior official of the Detective Branch of police told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Seeking anonymity, the official said arrested Huji-B bomb expert Umar, a final year student of chemistry department at Prime University, was the son of a retired air force official who was now unable to work because of a disability. Exploiting the family's financial hardships, Huji-B members had been paying all expenses of the family since Umar was in class six, telling the family that the outfit was taking the boy to work in the ways of Allah.
The information came out during the interrogation of four members of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul Jihad Al-Islami Bangladesh (Huji-B) who were arrested last Saturday. A six-day remand of Huji-B operation wing chief Mawlana Mohammad Rafiq Ahmed alias Sajid, bomb expert Md Umar alias Foyzul alias Roby, members Md Nadim Ahmed alias Sumon and Md Salahuddin Ahmed – is set to end today.
The police also managed to recover a detailed hit-list containing pictures and biography of 22 prominent citizens of the country including politicians, intellectuals and journalists.
“The militants were planning to collect details before killing these people, as part of an attempt to show-off their strength and presence in Bangladesh,” Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of DB police, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
However, he refused to disclose the identities of the targeted individuals as the investigation was ongoing.
Monirul said the detained Huji-B members have confessed that their chief Mawlana Abu Sayed alias Abu Jafor came up with the plan to set up a united militant platform after discussions with other militant leaders who were locked up in the Kashimpur Jail along with him.
The DB boss added that the arrested Huji-B men have provided a list of 14 people – half them currently in Bangladesh while the rest hiding in India – who were actively working for the Bangladesh Jihadi Group.
Without giving any names, the DB chief said a number of politicians and businesspeople were sponsoring the activities of the militant platform.
The militant platform's next plan was to set up a base on a one acre land near the Homra border point in Satkhira, he said.
Meanwhile, when asked about the Indian media reports on JMB's plan to kill the prime minister, Joint Commissioner Monirul said they were yet to get any official report from India, but had already increased vigilance based on those media reports.
One Hizb-ut Tahrir man arrested
The Rapid Action Battalion arrested a member of banned militant outfit Hizb-ut-Tahrir from the capital's Dakkhinkhan area on Thursday.
Based on intelligence reports that Hizb-ut-Tahrir men would circulate anti-state leaflets in Dakkhinkhan, RAB 1 officials raided the area and arrested 22-year-old Jahangir, said Mufti Mahmud, director of legal and media wing of RAB.
The arrestee was an accused in cases with Gazipur's Karimganj police station and Dakkhinkhan police station, the RAB official said, adding that Jahangir has already admitted of being involved with Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
