Staff Reporter :
The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit chief Monirul Islam has claimed to have destroyed the operational capacity of militants, Brightening hopes that there will be no more large-scale militant attacks at the moment in the country.
“We have destroyed the operational capacity of militants as their mazimum masterminds have been killed and captured during different raids by law enforcers,” he asserted.
Monirul Islam made the assertion while inaugurating an ‘Spoken English Course, organised by Crime Reporters Association of Bangladesh (CRAB) at Sagar-Runi auditorium of the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) on Tuesday afternoon.
The upsurge of militancy is a global phenomenon, he said, adding that no country on earth can claim that it has not encountered fear of possible militant attack.
“Bangladesh has made a tremendous progress in tackling terrorism. We have successfully destroyed militants’ unity and strength inside the country through series of well-planned anti-militant drives. They don’t have the ability to carry out attack,” he said.
In response to a query about people being disappeared, he said law enforcing agencies are working to find out the disappeared persons. If any missing person is involved with militancy in a foreign country, he will be brought back with the help of international police organization Interpol.
About the charge-sheet of Gulshan Holey Artisan café attack, Islam said one of the main accused of the case is still on remand. “The charge-sheet will be published as soon as the remand ends,” he said.
The biggest display of “operational capacity” of the militants was Dhaka café attack on July 1 last year, where 20 hostages, mostly foreigners, and two police officers were killed.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday claimed to have arrested one of the financiers of militancy in Habiganj.
Mostaq Ahmed Kha, 27, once a Bangladeshi expatriate in Turkey, used to collect money from different organisations and individuals from Turkey and spent that for terror financing in Bangladesh, said Molla Nazrul Islam, Special Superintendent of CID at his office in the capital.
“He transacted several crores of money through one of his accounts with a private bank, which were distributed to different illegally run non-government organisations and some individuals,” the CID official said.
Molla Nazrul said CID officials, who were investigating a case filed against him, arrested Mostaq from in front of Kalapara restaurant in Habiganj as they primarily detected his involvement with terror financing.
He is accused in at least six cases under Special Power Act, Anti-terrorism Act and Explosives Act, he said. Mostaq was out of jail on bail, he added. According to the CID, Mostaq went to Turkey illegally 10 years back and returned after spending nearly five years there. He established a network during his stay.
Mostaq used to run an NGO named Al Kawsar in Habiganj and worked for anther NGO for Rohingya Muslims, the CID official said. The CID will also investigate whether he had funded terrorist activities during political turmoil in 2013 and 2014. A case was filed with Habiganj Sadar Police Station under Money Laundering Prevention Act.
