Maj Syed Md Ziaul Huq, who went into hiding after a failed army coup attempt, has taken over the charge of Ansarullah Bangla Team, a Bangladeshi follower of international militant organisation al-Qaeda, after the arrest of its chief Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmania, police said.
Quoting Mufti Jasim, officials of Detective Branch (DB) of Police claim that Maj Ziaul is now staying in the country and playing the key role of organising militants to keep continue the activities of Ansarullah Bangla Team.
Police, however, have been unable to trace him.
Mufti Jasim, who was arrested along with 30 of his associates in Barguna on August 12, is currently being interrogated by the DB officials. The organisation aims at establishing Islamic rule through armed revolution.
Before his arrest, both Jasim and Maj Ziaul had several meetings in Dhaka and Chittagong. Their last meeting was in Chittagong, said the DB officials.
Maj Ziaul first replaced Izaz Hossain, the military operational chief of Ansarullah Bangla Team, after the latter fled to Pakistan earlier this month. And following the arrest of Jasim, he has got the charge of the militant group.
According to DB officials, Maj Ziaul had visited Pakistan several times, but now he is staying in Bangladesh.
Maj Ziaul, a former student of the Military Institute of Science and Technology (now Bangladesh University of Professionals), is an expert in information technology.
An alleged planner in the army coup, Maj Ziaul is a fugitive accused and wanted by international police organisation Interpol. Army at a press conference on January 19 last year revealed that some 15 unruly army officers had been involved in the attempt to oust the democratic government in December 2011.
DB Joint Commissioner Md Monirul Islam said they had formed two separate cells to quiz Mufti Jasim to know about the origin of the organisation, its financial sources and involvement of other organisations or individuals.
Existence of the organisation came to light after the arrest of some of its youth members for their alleged involvement in the killing of blogger Rajeeb Haider and attacking two other bloggers.
Law enforcers have so far arrested around 50 members of Ansarullah Bangla Team, of who at least eight are students of North South University.
Monirul said the militant organisation had begun its activities in 2007 and at the same time, they formed Jama’atul Muslemin with the funding of different NGOs. But the activities of the NGO had stopped the following year.
DB officials said apart from different NGOs, some garment industries were also involved in funding militant organisations.
The government has recently decided to ban 10 Islamist militant organisations. Ansarullah Bangla Team, which has been under watch for its suspected militant activities, is one of them.
