Staff Reporter :
The police and the Rapid Action Battalion claimed to have arrested six militants, including the ‘missing teacher’ of Ahasnullah University of Science and Technology (AUST), during two separate drives in the capital’s Motijheel area and its outskirts Ashulia on Sunday night.
They were identified as ABM Sohel-ud-Dowla alias Sohel, an Associate Professor of the AUST, Ahadul Islam Sagor, Joglul Hoque Mithu, Toasin Rahman, Md Imran Hosen alias Emran and Md Rafikul Islam alias Junayed, law enforcers said.
Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Unit Chief Monirul Islam claimed that the missing teacher ABM Sohel-ud-Dowla of the AUST and three others were arrested by police during the anti-militancy drive from Motijheel area around 6:30pm on Sunday.
The arrested Sohel, Mithu and Toasin might have joined Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the CTTC Chief said.
They were in charge of plotting murder of bloggers. “They are intended to learn war in Syria and come back to wage jihad in Bangladesh,” he said.
He said, “In the primary interrogation, they admitted that some among them who escaped have communicated with sacked army major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, and the detainees provided their names.”
“They had planned to go to Afghanistan for jihadi training, but changed plans due to visa problems. Later they chalked out another plan to join Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian version of al Qaeda,” Monirul Islam said.
Two laptops, two notebooks, Sohel’s passport, a translated copy of Osama Bin Laden’s book and other jihadi books were seized from their possession, he added.
According to his family, Professor Sohel had been missing since Thursday afternoon
On Thursday night, Sohel’s brother Shafiq-ud-Dowla had lodged a general diary with Tejgaon Police Station, saying Sohel had been missing since afternoon on that day.
When contacted, OC of Tejgaon thana Mazharul Islam said: “Sohel’s family told us that he is not connected with any political or religious parties or groups.”
Police later discovered that the last known location of the missing teacher was near Dhaka’s Kakrail mosque.
Meanwhile, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested two alleged militants of JMB from Ashulia around 10:15 pm on Sunday,
The two youths, Imran and Rafiq, were detained after a RAB raid on Sunday night, Mufti Mahmud Khan, RAB Legal and Media Wing Director, told reporters in a press briefing at their media centre in the city’s Karwan Bazar on Monday afternoon.
“The youths were in possession of various explosive and bomb making materials,” he said, adding that they were involved in supplying raw materials for making bombs.
“Two bottles of sulphuric acid, five packets of balls used to make splinters and other chemicals were seized from their possession,” said the RAB media wing director.
