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The prison meet that led to Jama’atul Ansar
MOHAMMAD JAMIL KHAN
A top leader of the militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islam (Huji) instructed Shamin Mahfuj to establish and initiate the formation of a new militant faction, which later became known as Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya.
The Huji leader, Abu Sayeed, also known as Abu Jafar, who is an accused in the grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004, provided the directives during a meeting held inside the prison.
This meeting took place in 2017 and included the presence of two others, Mainul Islam alias Mahin alias Roxy and Jony.
During the meeting, Jafar assured Shamin that they would receive financial support and members from Huji, and he instructed them to establish a training camp in the hilly regions. Subsequently, in 2018, Mahin was granted bail, followed by Shamin’s release in 2019.
Under the leadership of Mahin as the initial ameer of the newly-formed platform, Shamin began the process of recruiting members and securing funding for the outfit.
Shamin also started communicating with different groups in the hill areas and eventually obtained support from Nathan Bom, his university friend and the chief of the Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF), an armed group operating in the Chattogram Hill Tracts.
Officials from the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit revealed these findings while speaking with The Daily Star recently.
Shamin and his wife, Naznin Sultan, were arrested on Friday night in Demra.
Currently, the CTTC is interrogating the couple during their respective four-day and three-day police remands.
Jafar has been in jail since 2007 following his arrest.
According to investigators, Shamin was arrested by the police’s detective branch in 2014 for his involvement in militancy. Mahin and Jony, on the other hand, were apprehended by the Rapid Action Battalion in 2015.
After Mahin’s arrest in July 2015, the Rab stated that he served as the chief coordinator of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Both Mahin and Shamin had affiliations with the militant outfit Ansar Al Islam.
Inspired by Ansar Al Islam’s strategy, young individuals started joining Shamin to undergo training in the hilly regions, entering into an agreement with the KNF.
Sources indicate that Shamin initially paid Tk 24 lakh to the KNF for training and shelter at their camp. At the end of 2020, Shamin held a meeting with Ansar Al Islam leaders and started working together, they said.
Since then, Ansar Al Islam has provided financial support to Shamin. While staying at the KNF camp, the leadership of the emerging militant outfit decided to name it Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya in early 2022.
Counterterrorism officials believe that Huji leader Jafar orchestrated and directed the formation of this new platform to gain support for the outfit within jails.
Md Asaduzzaman, chief of the CTTC unit, said, “We are currently receiving various types of information. We are now verifying it.”
DARK WEB, USE OF FOREIGN NUMBERS
Counterterrorism officials said they have discovered the use of the messaging app Imo by the leaders of Sharqiya for the first time in recent history.
“We have never encountered these types of communications before. The outfit leaders acquire foreign numbers from the dark web and then register Imo accounts with them,” said a high-ranking official of the CTTC unit, requesting anonymity.
The official said investigating these conversations has become a major challenge.
Counterterrorism officials believe that Huji leader Jafar orchestrated and directed the formation of this new platform to gain support for the outfit within prisons.