Militants under the banner of different organisations usually become active to create chaos in the country ahead of national parliament elections, said officials of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC).
The officials also said that the militants try to become reorganised taking advantage of the busyness of law enforcement agencies for election purposes.
The CTTC officials, however, claimed that this time there is no possibility of becoming further reorganised as the law enforcers have already taken various cautionary measures by arresting most of the leaders of different militant organisations.
Additional Police Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman, who is the chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) unit of CTTC on Wednesday said that the militants would not be able to carry out their activities as the intelligence and law enforcers are now more active than in the past.
He said that before the national elections, the law and order forces usually remain busy due to election meetings and maintaining law and order.
Militants think law enforcement will pay less attention to them at this time. This has happened before. As a result, they choose the period of national elections for organizational activities, he added.
He said that the police earlier had no special unit to deal with militants. Now the CTTC is assigned to control the activities of militants. So, militants will not get the previous space in the upcoming national elections.
Asked about Shamin Mahfuz alias Shamin Sir, the leader of the new militant organization Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, he said that Shamin Mahfuz is missing along with his family. If he is arrested, it is hoped that the new militant organization will become fragile.
He also said that the whereabouts of Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) president Nathan Bom is yet to be identified
Meanwhile, the CTTC of DMP unit Tuesday evening arrested Mohibullah alias Bholar Shayekh, the Nayeb-e-Amir of the extremist group Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya in Sayedabad area of Dhaka.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of CTTC unit conducted a drive at Sayedabad bus terminal and arrested Mohibullah along with two mobile phone sets and a laptop on Tuesday evening, CTTC unit chief Md Asaduzzaman said at a press briefing held at DMP media centre on Wednesday.
Asaduzzaman said Mohibullah used to deliver sermons and inspire members of the extremist group after taking them to the hill districts.
His main target was to psychologically prepare the new recruits for jihad after misinterpreting religious scripture, the CTTC chief said.
After living in the Chattogram Hill Tracts region for some time, Mohibullah returned to Dhaka and carried out different activities including intensifying communication through encrypted messaging apps, he said.
Mohibullah also had a number of meetings with top leaders of extremist groups for strengthening activities in Dhaka, Sylhet and Kishoreganj. He also used to go to madrassas in Hathazari of Chattogram district, said Asaduzzaman.
Mohibullah was also an active member of the banned extremist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad Bangladesh (HuJI-B) when he was a student of a madrassa in Hathazari and took ‘jihadi training’ with other members of HuJI-B.
