‘ABT had plan to free its chief Jashimuddin’

Staff Correspondent: Members of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) had a plan to carry out an attack on jail to free their chief Jashimuddin Rahmani, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) said on Friday.

“They are trying to regroup,” Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of Rab’s legal and media wing, told a press briefing at Rab Media Centre in Kawran Bazar.

“ABT members are working on target killings although they have no leader to guide them,” he said. “Their main goal is to free Rahmani from jail. If the legal ways fail, then they are ready to attack jail to free him.”

Rab-1 arrested four ABT members early Friday from different parts of the city, said Assistant Director of Rab-1 Senior ASP Mizanur Rahman. The arrestees were involved in a plot to kill some renowned personalities and online activists.

Arrested ABT militants told Rab that they currently had 92 members who are divided in various cells controlled by a person identifying himself as Aman. “They are campaigning through four-five Facebook pages at Aman’s orders,” the Rab officer said.

These groups mainly monitor online activists. “One of the militants, Shahriar, joined an atheist group using a fake name. At one stage of monitoring, the militants planned to kill one of the [members of the atheist group] according to ABT’s organisational decision,” Rab said.

Among the arrestees, Shahriar hailing from Dhunat upazila of Bogura studied till class seven from madrasa. He joined ATB after being influenced by Aman through Facebook.

Md Rasel alias Sajedul Islam hailing from Fulgachia of Bhola, passed SSC in 2013 and took a job in a garment factory. He, too, was influenced by Aman on Facebook and joined ATB.

Nurul Islam hailing from Bogura passed Dakhil examination in 2010 and later got admitted to Bogura Polytechnic in 2015. He was radicalised by Shahriar and joined ATB.

Md Abdul Malek, a driver, was influenced by Rasel on the social media and joined ATB in 2018.

risingbd/Dhaka/February 01, 2019/Maksud/AKA