First female Ansar al Islam activist arrested

For the first time, a female member of banned Islamist militant outfit Ansar al Islam has been arrested in the country.

The Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested her from Badda area in the capital on Thursday.

The arrestee is Jubaida Siddiqa Nabila, an HSC examinee hailing from Bhola. Her father is a teacher.

She was tracked through Titumir Media, an extremist account on Telegram. After arresting her, the CTTC interrogated about her activities, said CTTC Chief Additional Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman at a press briefing at DMP media centre on Sunday.

The CTTC chief said Nabila used multiple fake IDs on Facebook and Chirpwire to spread extremism and shared photos and videos related to Ansar al Islam's operation on four Telegram accounts.

"She had first come into contact with Ansar al Islam in 2020 and later joined Titumir Media through Facebook," Asaduzzaman said.

Nabila's ultimate goal was to join jihad (war against infidels) and help establish shariah law in the country, he said, adding prior to the arrest, her activities through fake IDs were monitored for 2-4 months.

She had been running around 15 accounts on different social media platforms. Using these accounts, she used to spread extremism among her followers. She has around 25,000 followers at these accounts.

During the raid at her residence, the CTTC team seized multiple SIM cards and phone memory cards containing extremist materials. A case has been lodged in this regard.

CTTC officials said we have recovered some written instructions from her possession penned by expelled army major and chief of military branch of Ansar al Islam Syed Ziaul Hoque.

After her arrest, the CTTC is now concerned about that Ansar al Islam's recruitment of female activists. Police are investigating whether more women have joined the organisation.