Law enforcers on Saturday claimed that another new terrorist organization named Tawhidul Uluhiyah Al-Jihadi has emerged to carry out a major militant attack in the country.
The organization has been conducting its activities for the past three months.
Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU), the special anti-militant unit of Bangladesh Police further said the newly emerged organization had planned a major attack in the country next year.
After getting the secret information, ATU conducted a special drive and arrested three top leaders of the militant outfit.
The arrested were identified as Jewel Molla (29), and his associates Md. Rahul Hossain (21) and Md. Ghaziul Islam (40).
ATU's DIG (Operations) Mohammad Alim Mahmud disclosed it at a press conference at ATU headquarters in the capital Dhaka.
He said that Jewel was arrested from Bagerhat, Rahul from Joypurhat and Ghaziul Islam from Bhasantek area of the capital by conducting operations which began on September 13. Jewell is the head of the organization and two others are senior militant leaders.
The ATU officer said the terrorist organization started their activities around three months back. Their plan was to launch a major terrorist attack in the country in 2024.
Alim Mahmud said, "We have been receiving intelligence information for the past few months that some extremists are gathering." Those who do not believe in the democratic system of the country, were coming together to perpetuate the extremist system by subverting the democratic system, he added.
All the arrested persons were earlier members of some militant organization. But they were reuniting under one banner with a new militant outfit. They were recruiting new members through various campaigns on social media. Jewel is the founder and chief leader of this group, the senior ATU officer continued.
We first arrested Jewel from Rampal in Bagerhat. Later, based on the information provided by him, the remaining two top leaders were arrested, the ATU officer described.
He said they were initially collecting money as well as membership. They planned to use this money to buy weapons and collect bomb-making equipment. With these weapons and bombs, they had planned a major terrorist attack.
During the primary interrogation, arrested militant leader Jewel admitted that he was inspired by the speech of arrested Ansarullah Bangla Team chief Jasim Uddin Rahmani, who is currently serving a sentence in jail.
As a result, he created this new militant organization. Earlier Jewel himself was a member of the ABT. Jewel also planned to free Jasim Uddin Rahmani from prison.
Responding to a question, the counter terrorism officer said, we have come to know that the organization has 80-90 members so far. Their financiers are not yet known. However, Rahul was working to collect money for the organization. Apart from this, Rahul was also in charge of making bombs.
When asked whether the new terrorist outfit had planned to attack during the upcoming national elections, he said, "We will interrogate them regarding the issue. But at present we have no such information. No information was available on whether the attack was planned with an election focus.”
However, they planned a major terrorist attack in 2024. That's why they were trying to make bombs along with collecting money and weapons.
The target of their attack is not yet known, we will try to find out by questioning them, the police officer said.
ATU Superintendent of Police (Operations) Sanwar Hossain Sunny said that Jewel Molla, the main planner of the new militant organization, was a member of the banned ABT. Later he was arrested by RAB. He was in jail for nine months.
During this time, he planned to start his own organization while sitting in prison. Jewel Mollah passed only class seven and was a bakery worker.
And the other two were members of banned militant outfit Hizbut Tawhid.
The leading counter terrorism officer also said that Rahul Hossain was an employee of an IT firm. Being an IT expert, Rahul was inquiring about making bombs. Rahul was also preparing to sell his land to finance the bombing.
He was also doing online recruitment.