MOHAMMAD JAMIL KHAN and EMRUL HASAN BAPPI

Ansar Al Islam, a militant group inspired by al-Qaeda, has raised Tk 18 lakh through crowdfunding within a few months.

In the name of sending aid to the victims in Palestine, the outfit made Facebook posts mentioning mobile financial service accounts.

In the last two months, Ansar Al Islam raised the money after launching a platform called “Deen Islam Foundation” on Facebook.

This move was made after al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) late last year called upon the Bangladeshi citizens to provide assistance to Palestinian people.

Officials of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit disclosed this to The Daily Star recently.

The government banned Ansar Al Islam in March 2017.

On Saturday, the CTTC unit claimed to have arrested three operatives of Ansar Al Islam for collecting money under the banner of Deen Islam Foundation.

A team of the CTTC’s counterterrorism investigation wing picked up Shakil Ahmed, 21, Fardin Ahmed Mirdul, 22, and Rayhan Hosain, 26, from the capital’s Wari.

On the same day, the CTTC unit filed a case with Wari Police Station against the three under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Speaking to this newspaper, Jahidul Hoque Talukder, deputy commissioner of the DMP at the CTTC unit, said the arrestees had been involved in raising funds for the outfit. They gave false information like sending aid to Palestine, or Rohingya community, he added.

The CTTC unit later produced the arrestees before a Dhaka court seeking 10-day remand for each. The court, however, granted three-day demand.

Yesterday, a Dhaka court sent the three arrestees to jail.

According to the primary investigation

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