Some inactive members of banned Harakat ul Jihad e Islami Bangladesh (HUJI-B) have joined another terror outfit – Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).
After changing their organisation, they are now trying to carry out militant attacks, said officials.
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) came to know this after arresting four alleged militants from the city on Saturday night, said RAB-4 Commanding Officer (CO) Md Mozammel Haque on Sunday.
They were identified as Md Masum Miah alias Masum, Md Abu Bakkar Siddiqui alias Imran, Md Rakibul Hasan alias Siam and Md Abdullah al Roman. They are all active members of banned militant outfit ABT.
He said acting on a tip-off, a team of RAB raided Khilkhet area in the city on Saturday night, arresting four members of ABT.
RAB also seized huge amount of Jihadi publications from their processions, he added.
Mozammel claimed that during the primary interrogation, the arrested militants admitted that they were involved with ABT for long time.
“Arrested Masum hailed from Cumilla district. He works as an electrician. He became close with ABT leader Amir Hossain through Facebook. At one stage, he also got involved with ABT. Amir was earlier arrested by RAB,” the RAB official said.
Mozammel said that Masum downloaded Jihadi contents from different online platforms. He was also financing the militant organisation. He was keeping contact with senior militant leaders through online. He regularly took part in the secret meetings of senior militants.
“Imran is a first year student of Fazil. He got in touch with an ABT leader, who radicalised Imran. At one stage, he joined ABT two years ago. He was conducting militant activities using various apps.
“Siam was also radicalized through online. He was giving financial assistance to ABT.
“Roman is an honours first year student in a Gazipur college. During his student life, he got involved with HUJI-B. When HUJI is banned, he joined ABT at the invitation of an ABT leader, who was identified as Md Iqramul Islam alias Amir Hamja. The arrested ABT militants were handed over to the local police station.
