Neo-JMB men were trying to contact IS followers in Bangladesh: Police

The four Neo-JMB men, who were arrested on Tuesday, were trying to contact the group which pledged allegiance to the new leader of the terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS), said the police.

Recently, some terrorists from Bangladesh have pledged allegiance to the new leader of the terrorist group Islamic State Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. The terrorist organisation announced al-Qurayshi as its new chief after the group's former leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was recently killed in a military operation.

Related sources said members of the terrorist group Neo-JMB, who were hiding for a long time, have published their pictures in which they were seen taking oath in front of an IS flag.

First, the IS propaganda arm Amaq news agency published those pictures, and later SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications, also published them.

Many terrorists, who went underground are now trying to become active again after those images were published, said police sources.

A source at the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC) said, on November 2, SITE intelligence published the images of local terrorists, who were dressed like IS men and were carrying a flag of the terrorist organisation. In that picture six to seven masked terrorists were seen hanging the IS flag on a tree in a forest.

The CTTC officials said they were trying to identify the terrorists in the pictures and the place where those were taken.

On condition of anonymity, a member of the counter terrorism unit said some members of the Neo-JMB were inspired by the pictures and came to Dhaka on Tuesday.

They were planning to take similar pictures, while dressed like terrorists and carrying the IS flag, at some important place in Dhaka. They also planned to contact the people who had posted the pictures earlier.

According to their plan, the Neo-JMB men gathered in Ramna area to take pictures at some place in Kakrail. Acting on a tip-off, the CTTC conducted a drive in the area and arrested them.

The arrestees are being questioned after they were placed on a two-day remand.

Imran Hossain, assistant commissioner of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit, said, "Four members of the Neo-JMB were arrested on Tuesday. Any important information found from them during the interrogation will be made public later."

Earlier last year, members of a group led by Neo-JMB leader Rakibul Hasan Agartul made a similar video in Dupchachia, Bogura.

The men who were arrested on Tuesday were active as Agartu's followers, but they went underground after police recently arrested him in Narsingdi.

They were trying to become active again after the IS announced the name of their new leader.