Rab arrests three Ansar-Al-Islam members

Rapid Action Battalion arrested three suspected Ansar-Al-Islam members, who used to look after the finances of the banned militant outfit, from Dhaka and Sylhet in the last two days, the elite force said today.

The arrestees are Motahar Hossain alias Jamil Hasan, 34, Murshidul Alam alias Shihad alias Murshid, 33, and Saifur Rahman, 22.

Motahar and Murshid were arrested from the capital's Darussalam on Wednesday while Saifur was arrested from Jaintapur in Sylhet on Thursday, said Mohammad Sajedul Islam Sajal, senior assistant director of Rab-4.

After primary interrogation, the Rab official said Motahar is an Ameer level member of Ansar-Al-Islam's Narsingdi unit.

The elite force said that for the last two years, Motahar has been depositing money collected from other members in a bank and then sending the funds abroad to a person named Abu Jandal for the last two years. He has sent Tk 4 to 5 lakh using three bank accounts, the Rab official said.

Motahar became acquainted with top leaders of Ansar-Al-Islam through an online platform and has been regularly communicating with them, the official added.

Murshid was in charge of collecting money from other members of the outfit, Rab said.

Saifur is the brother-in-law of Lokman Ahmed alias Abu Jandal, 42,and he was also involved in sending money to Jandal, who lives abroad and maintains regular contact with top leaders of Ansar al-Islam, Rab said.

The members of this outfit were regularly using various encrypted apps and distributing extremist content among themselves, the Rab official said.