Police early yesterday arrested a former university teacher while holding a clandestine meeting allegedly with members of banned militant outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir from Chandgaon residential area of the port city.
Detained Md Sharful Awal, 27, is believed to have links with International terrorist group Islamic State, OC Sairul Islam of Chandgaon police station said. Sharful, however, says he supports ISIS activities as Muslims in many countries have been oppressed.
Hailing from Rangunia, Sharful had been serving as a lecturer at Cox’s Bazar International University’s law department until March this year, police said.
The OC said police were looking for Sharful for a long time because of his ties with Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamist group banned in 2009. It aims at establishing Caliphate in Bangladesh.
“Acting on intelligence information, police raided his house in Chandgaon residential area early yesterday and held him while holding a secret meeting with three other Hizb ut-Tahrir members, who managed to escape,” the OC said.
Police recovered several Jihadi books, a Hizb ut-Tahrir magazine and many anti-government leaflets and documents from the house.
Recently, elite force Rapid Action Battalion and police busted a number of militant dens in Chittagong and recovered a large amount of arms and ammunition.
Detectives say banned militant groups Hizb ut-Tahrir, JMB and Huji, and Ansarullah Bangla Team with assistance from ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Taliban have been trying to regroup with a view to establishing Islamic State in Chittagong, also incorporating Cox’s Bazar, the three hill districts, and some bordering areas of Myanmar and India.
In December last year, Hizb ut-Tahrir members campaigned across the country asking the army to take over power and establish Caliphate under the leadership of the militant group. After the killing of secular writer Avijit Roy on February 26, RAB arrested Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Shafiur Rahman Farabi for threatening him with death repeatedly.
“Detectives and police have long been looking for this Hizb ut-Tahrir member, who, we think has been an active member of ISIS too,” the OC told the Dhaka Tribune.
“We have found evidences of his ties with the ISIS after searching his Facebook account, mobile phones, email accounts, documents and books,” he said adding that the detainee had admitted his connection with the groups.
“We will place Sharful before a court and seek remand to glean information about his cohorts,” the officer said.
A case was filed against him and other unnamed persons with Chandgaon police under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Police sources said Sharful had completed his graduation from Premier University in Chittagong in 2012 and completed his masters from Eastern University the following year. Later he joined Cox’s Bazar International University as a lecturer and resigned on March 23 this year.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune at the police station, Sharful denied his link with Hizb ut-Tahrir claiming that the police had found only a magazine from his house. “One of my friends gave it to me in 2012,” he said.
Asked about his connection with the ISIS, the detainee said: “I just wrote down my personal views and evaluations on the oppression of Muslims Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Russia in my Facebook account after collecting and evaluating news reports published in international media.
“Through online I came in contact with a brother who resides in London and later posted about the ISIS activities on Facebook. I discussed with him why the Muslims have been tortured. That is all.”
He, however, refused to disclose more about the person’s identity.
Asked about his resignation, Sharful said: “I left the job because the university authorities pressurised me, prompting the rise of a conflict.” OC Sairul said: “During primary interrogation, Sharful gave us some names who are highly professional in the city.”
After the arrest, the police conducted drives at several places in the port city to arrest his associates. “But he is trying to misguide the police by giving false information,” the OC added.
