‘They mostly targeted madrasa teachers, students’

Ansar Al Islam, under scrutiny by law enforcers, tried to form a new platform, "As Shahadat," led by an Indian national named Muhammed Habibullah, according to Rab.

Rab said the supposed ameer of the outfit is one Salahuddin.

From India, the outfit leaders were recruiting members, collecting funds, and providing training -- mainly targeting the madrasa students and teachers in Bangladesh.

The majority of the students, who were targeted by the outfit's new platform, are aged between 19 and 20.

The outfit maintains communication through encrypted applications.

The information came to light after Rab-3, Rab-7, and Rab-15 in separate drives arrested six outfit members from Dhaka and Cox's Bazar in May and June.

According to the case statement filed with the Paltan Police Station in May, and the police investigation progress report, the group has been  recruiting members in different districts of Bangladesh for a long time.

Commander Arafat Islam, director of the legal and media wing of the Rapid Action Battalion told The Daily Star yesterday, "The outfit has at least 80 to 100 members."

"But we have successfully been able to detect the outfit's activities at the beginning, and one of their top leaders in Bangladesh is now under surveillance," he said.

Asked about whether they have reports of missing madrasa students, he replied in the negative.

"Three students, who did not return to a madrasa after spending Eid vacation, were arrested in Cox's Bazar in connection with the outfit," he added.

In another development, the West Bengal Special Task Force on June 22 arrested Muhammed Habibullah, at his residence in Paschim Bardhaman, according to a report of India Today.

Within a week after the arrest, the STF also arrested  two other operatives -- Anwar Sheikh, and Harej Sheikh, from Chennai and Howrah, reports Times of India.

This is not the first time that Ansar Al Islam has tried to form a new platform.

Ansar Al Islam was linked to the financial support and recruitment of Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, a new outfit.

Mainul Islam, an Ansar Al Islam member, participated in Sharqiya's formation meeting in jail, according to counterterrorism officials.

Due to its cut-out strategy, Ansar Al Islam members remain out of law enforcers' radar and continue their activities on offline and online platforms.

For the past one and a half years, law enforcers have failed to trace two top Ansar Al Islam leaders, Moinul Hasan Shamim and Abu Siddiq Sohel, who were snatched from police custody while returning to jail after a hearing in a Dhaka court on November 20, 2022.

Md Asaduzzaman, chief of the CTTC unit, said the two are hiding in Bangladesh, and efforts to arrest them are ongoing.