Ansarullah members were planning to attack law enforcers: RAB

The four members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team, who were detained by the Rapid Action Battalion from Shah Ali area in Mirpur on Wednesday, were planning to attack law enforcers with machetes and knives.

RAB-4 Commanding Officer Md Mozammel Haque said this at a press conference at the RAB Media Center in Kawran Bazar on Thursday.

On Wednesday night, a team of RAB-4 raided Shah Ali area and detained the four members of the militant outfit. 

The detainees are Mohammad Ariful Karim Chowdhury, alias Adnan Chowdhury, 38, Md Mehdi Hasan Shakil, alias Babu, 23, Md Abdul Al Mamun, alias Asadullah Hil Ghalib, 18, and Md Nazmul Hasan, 29.

Mozammel Haque said, "We learned that the militants were planning to attack law enforcement personnel after we conducted digital forensic tests on their mobile phones." 

They were not planning to use any kind of electronic devices or phones during the attack. They decided to break into small cells of two-three people and attack the law enforcers using machetes and knives from behind." 

The leader of the group is Adnan Chowdhury. Prior to joining the ABT, he was associated with Harkat-ul-Jihad. After completing a computer diploma course from a university, he worked as a senior officer in the IT branch of a bank." 

After he was arrested at Khilgaon police station in 2015, a case was filed against him. After two years, he was released from jail and joined ABT in Dhaka. He then contacted Abbas Uddin in Cumilla. The two began to work together to expand and promote terrorism. Adnan Chowdhury was presently serving as the divisional officer of ABT."

Mozammel Haque further said, "Trough primary investigation we got to know that the militants were using encrypted apps and browsers to spread terrorism, recruit members, raise money and cause destruction. In particular, they wanted to abolish the existing political system and establish Sharia Law."

"During the raid, several other militants fled. We have their names, and are working to catch them," he added. 

The RAB-4 commanding officer said, "Since October, we have arrested 23 members of this group. We cannot confirm how many terrorists are in this group since they work in cells. It is time consuming to look into the communication threads between cells."

Besides RAB, two more special police units are working to catch them, he said, adding that ABT and Harkat-ul-Jihad belong to the same terrorist network.