Snatching Of Militants: Wife of escaped convict arrested

The  Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has arrested the wife of one of the two death-row convicts who were snatched away by militants from the premises of a Dhaka court last year.

A CTTC team in a raid nabbed the woman from the Signboard area of Narayanganj last night, Md Asaduzzaman, the unit chief, told The Daily Star.

Another person, who had sheltered her, was also held in the raid, he said, without giving any details.    

Fatema Khanam Shikha is the wife of Abu Siddiq Sohel, an Ansar al-Islam member, who was sentenced to death for killing publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan in 2015.

According to counterterrorism officials, Shikha is one of the key coordinators of the militant snatching incident. She was present at the court with her child on that day.

After escaping, the two militants took shelter at "Ansar House", a hideout of militants. Shikha met her husband one or two times there, said the officials.

On November 20, two Ansar al-Islam members -- Moinul Hasan Shamim alias Samir alias Imran, and Sohel -- escaped from the premises of Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court with the help of fellow militants. Both were sentenced for killing Dipan.