Extremists incapable of making aggressive attack now: RAB DG
He said that they have arrested around 1,500 militant suspects since the terrorist attack on 1 July, 2016
Extremist groups in Bangladesh do not have the capacity to carry out any aggressive attack or sabotage.
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Director General Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun came up with assertion while briefing reporters at RAB headquarters in the capital on Tuesday, ahead of fifth anniversary of Holey Artisan Bakery attack in Gulshan.
The Rab DG said that they have arrested around 1,500 militant suspects since the terrorist attack on 1 July, 2016.
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Mamun said, "Some extremists were trying to regroup through online platforms, but Rab was continuing their cyber patrolling and the attempts were foiled successfully."
The RAB chief said they are having deradicalisation programmes and in recent months, 16 extremists have left the path of violence and surrendered to Rab with an aim to return to normal lives.
On the evening of July 1, 2016, five extremists armed with guns and knives stormed a posh cafe at Gulshan in Dhaka and held around 40 people hostages, including restaurant staff and visitors, both locals and foreigners.
The extremists killed 22 people — nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian, one Bangladeshi-born American, and two Bangladeshis — in the attack.
The carnage ended in the next morning when army commandoes carried out a swift raid, killing the five gunmen.
The Rab chief said that the force has so far arrested 46,000 drug peddlers in their anti-drug operations.
He said new drugs like methamphetamine, hallucinogenic lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as LSD, and DMT were recovered with arrests in recent times.
Mamun said that teenage gangs are a serious issue of concern in recent days, and the force has beefed up its operations against the gangs.
Many such gang members have been caught already, he added.
The RAB chief stressed on proper caring and monitoring of family members by the guardians, so that their kids do not get involved in criminal activities.
Asked about journalist couple Sagar-Runi murder case, Mamun said that they are conducting investigation properly and charge sheet will be placed soon after the investigation is over.
