3 members of new extremist group ‘Shahadat’ arrested

The Rapid Action Battalion on Saturday said that it had arrested three people suspected to be members of new extremist group ‘Shahadat.’

Md Ismail Hossain, 25, Md Jihad Hossain alias Huzaifa, 24, and Md Aminul Islam, 25, were arrested on Friday in Gulistan and Signboard areas of the capital.

‘Shahadat’ has emerged from banned Islamist outfit Ansar al-Islam,’ said commander Arafat Islam, director of the legal and media wing of the RAB, at a press conference on Saturday.

He said that Ismail was the head of their recruiting branch, while the other two were regional trainers.

Commander Arafat said that the RAB recovered three books promoting extremism from the arrested people.

‘They were inspired by the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and follow the ideology of Al-Qaeda,’ he said.

The RAB officer said that activities of Ansar al-Islam almost came to a standstill as a result of regular operations by the RAB and other law enforcement agencies.

Arafat said, ‘As part of their strategy, Ansar al-Islam members created a new extremist organisation called ‘Shahadat’ and started recruiting new members.’

He said that most of the members of the group were Madrassah students and teachers. Ismail was a Dawra-e-Hadith student at a Madrassah in Narayanganj, Arafat said.

He contacted an extremist named Salahuddin, who lived abroad through social media a year ago, the RAB officer said at the press conference.

The commander also said that Jihad was a Madrassah teacher and Aminul was a garment worker.

They communicated with extremist leaders separately through social media and were given the position of regional trainers.

RAB commander Arafat said, ‘Their main aim is to establish Bangladesh as an Islamic state.’

Source » newagebd.net