Four Hizb-ut-Tahrir men arrested in capital
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested four members of banned Islamist outfit Hizb-ut-Tahrir Bangladesh, and recovered a number of jihadi books, leaflets, and CD's from their possession in several drives in the capital on Thursday night and early yesterday.
The arrestees were Md Imtiaz Hasan, 52, living at Jigatola of Hajaribag, Ariful Kabir, 32, of Nilkhet, Ariful Islam, 23, of Mohammadpur and Kodor Jamil Khandoker of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Rayhan Uddin Khan, an operation officer at Rab-2, said a team of the Rab conducted a drive around 9:30pm on Thursday after receiving information about a secret meeting of the Islamist outfit members at a tea stall near Samarita Hospital in the city's Panthapath area.
The Rab arrested the outfit members from the spot, while some of the members managed to leave behind the scene sensing presence of the Rab team.
Later, the Rab conducted several drives at houses of the arrestees in the city's different areas, and recovered some 25 copies of jihadi books, 24 copies of magazines containing articles on militancy, huge number of leaflets and CD's from the houses.
The Rab official said that during a primary investigation Imtiaz, one of the arrestees, claimed himself a citizen of United States. Imtiaz went to USA for higher studies in 1982. After returning back to Bangladesh in 2004, he took a job in a bank, and also got involved with the outfit.
Meanwhile, Ariful Karim was also arrested earlier for his alleged link with the group, but he got involved again in the activities of the banned outfit after getting bail. Ariful Islam graduated from Chittagong University and Kodor from Jagannath University.
"We are verifying the information; they [the arrestees] provided during the interrogation," the Rab official Rayhan said adding, "A case under Anti Terrorism Act was filed with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station in this connection."
The arrestees will be placed before court today (Saturday).
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments