Police have arrested six youths who left home and were planning to go to Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf to train in militancy after they were ‘radicalised by the ideology of Al-Qaeda’.
The police’s counter-terrorism unit arrested them in Dhaka’s Sayedabad, Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf on Sunday, according to bdnews24.com.
The arrestees have been identified as Abdur Rab, 28, Md Sakib, 23, Shameem Hossain, 18, Nadim Sheikh, 19, Md Absar, 20, and Said Uddin, 18.
“Though the detained individuals were inspired by Al-Qaeda’s ideals, no direct connection has been found to that organisation,” said Md Asaduzzaman, deputy commissioner of police, at a press conference in Dhaka on Monday.
Abdur Rab, one of the suspects, studied at a Qawmi madrasa. In June 2019, he went to Saudi Arabia. While there, he came across extremist posts and videos online and was radicalised into militancy. He was introduced to Said, another detainee, through comments on a social media video on violence against Rohingya people. He met Shameem, Sakib, Nadim, and several others in similar ways.
“Abdur Rab worked as the organiser and gathered the group together to discuss the formation of a state under Shariah law, religious war, and similar topics. At one point the group became acquainted with a Bangladeshi living abroad. That individual encouraged them to leave home and join the jihad,” Asaduzzaman said.
“That individual then introduced them to a Bangladeshi living in Libya and a person located in Teknaf. They came to a collective decision that those who wanted to leave home to fight would first go to Teknaf and receive training with the support of locals. They would then fight to impose Islamic rule on Bangladesh,” he said.
In the first week of November, the group were advised to make their way to Teknaf. On Nov 16, Sakib and Nadim went to Teknaf and local helpers and the detained Absar arranged for them to rent a house in the area.
Abdur Rab was unable to take leave from work and come to Teknaf on time, leaving the rest of the group waiting. He returned to Bangladesh from Saudi Arabia on Nov 22 and Shameem picked him up from the airport and brought him to the house they rented. Two days later, they joined Sakib and started waiting for the others. They were then arrested.
A case under the Anti-Terrorism Act has been filed against the six of them at Jatrabari Police Station.
