Police on Wednesday said that they would seek Interpol help to trace the 13 missing youths who were allegedly left the country to join the Middle East-based Jihadist group ‘Islamic State’ (IS).
These youths remained missing for three months to four years as complained by their parents after the militant attack in an upscale restaurant in Dhaka on July 1.
Twenty two people were killed in the attack, most of them foreigners, when six young men stormed into the restaurant to carry out the bloody shooting claimed by IS.
Those who attacked the restaurant also went missing for months after breaking contact with their families.
When asked, an official of National Central Bureau (NCB) at the Police Headquarters told The New Nation on Wednesday that they have already prepared profiles of the 13 missing youths to be sent to Interpol for issuing wanted notices against them.
He said, the police department had conducted countrywide drive to trace the youths but failed to identify their hideouts.
“As per the intelligence gathering, the missing persons believed to be left the country to join the Middle East-based Jihadist groups. We want to get them back with the help of Interpol,” he added. He, however, said that they will send the profiles of 13 missing persons to Interpol as per the demands from the investigators.
Police sources said that the missing youths already become the fighters of the IS and they may now staying at the IS battlefields in Middle East.
“Their return to country could be a potential threat to national security. So, we want to trace them at any cost,” another senior police official told The New Nation yesterday.
He said the law enforcement agencies have already sent their photographs and details to all police stations, airports, seaports and river ports in the country so that they can be arrested at their arrival in the country.
The 13 suspected IS fighters are: Mohammad Basharuzzaman from Tejgaon in Dhaka, Zunaid Khan from Badda (Passport No: AF7493378), Nazibullah Ansari from Chanpainawabganj, Ashraf Mohammad Islam from Dhaka (Passport No: 525841625), Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury from Sylhet (Passport No: L0633478), Ibrahim Hasan Khan from Dhaka (Passport No: AF7493378), ATM Tajuddin from Laxmipur (Passport No: F0585568), Ibaidur Rahim from Dhanmondi in Dhaka (Passport No:E1047719), Mohammad Saifullah Ozaki from Sylhet (Passport No:TK8099860) and Junnun Shikder (Passport No: BE0949172), Tahmid Rahman Shafi, a former official of Grameen Phone, Tousif Hasan, a former Dhaka University (IBA) student and Wasiqur Rahman, a former student of Dhaka Dental College.
