Police arrest two active members of banned Ansar al-Islam

Police's Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit say they have arrested two active members of the banned militant group Ansar al-Islam.

They arrestees are identified as Md Faizur Rahman alias Fayez alias Ahmad Adnan (23) and Md Chan Mia (26).

Based on information, a team of CTTC investigation wing conducted drive in the capital's Khilgaon area and arrested the duo on Tuesday night, SK Imran Hossain, Additional Deputy Commissioner of CTTC unit told The Daily Star yesterday.

CTTC team also recovered four cell phones from their possession.  Imran said the arrestees were active members of Ansar Al Islam.

"They were planning sabotage and destructive activities against the government and state. They were gathered in Khilgaon area to conduct recce to implement overall killing plan of atheists, bloggers and policemen," said the officer.

They used to spread extremist messages on social media and then make lists and build up relationships with people who showed interest in those messages, said ADC Imran.

He said that they used to brainwash people who were interested in extremism and used to communicate through secret communication applications to avoid law enforcers surveillance.

From the arrestees' cell phone, the CTTC officials also claimed to have found soft copy of different books that contains extremist messages.

The arrestee Fayez was a first-year student of Sylhet Government Alia Madrasa while arrestee Chan Mia studied up to HSC at Sonapur Degree College. Chan Mia used to work for the banned organisation Ansar al-Islam under the guise of painting, he said.

A case has been filed against them at Khilgaon police station.

CTTC have placed the arrestees in a Dhaka court yesterday and the court granted four-day remand for interrogation in police custody.