[Bangla Daily Star] Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday disclosed the arrests of six members of Harkatul Jihad al Islami on Saturday during overnight raids on areas in the capital and elsewhere in the country. The members of the banned militant outfit are accused in different cases filed in connection with grenade and bomb attacks and militant activities in the last one decade, Rab said at a press briefing at the Rab headquarters.Rab sources said as its intelligence wing had started gathering information on the accused it learnt about the banned militant outfit's attempts to smuggle in arms through Naikhangchhari border in Bandarban. They also learnt that Harkatul Jihad (Huji) was recruiting members.
The arrestees are Abul Khair of Manikganj, Maulana Mohammad Musa of Chandpur, Abdul Aziz of Feni, Rezaul Karim and Anwar Uddin Javed of Chakaria in Cox's Bazar, and Abdullah Al Hossain of Banshkhali in Chittagong. Abdul Aziz is a land broker while others are either madrasa teachers or imams of mosques.
Rab officials said the Huji men were taken back to the areas where they were arrested and that they will be produced before the courts concerned today. The arrestees will also be taken on remand for interrogation about the latest activities of Huji.
These six Huji members were among the 41 militants who had been arrested with firearms and grenades at a Huji den in the deep forest of Ukhia in Cox's Bazar on February 19, 1996. Accused in a case filed in this connection, all 41 were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998.
Five of the accused--Abu Zafar, Aminur Rahman, Abu Abbas, Abdul Mannan and Abu Sufian--are already behind bars.
Reading out a written statement at the press briefing, Rab Additional Director General Col Mizanur Rahman Khan said the six arrestees were freed on bail from the higher court in December 2002. Rab sources said 15 other accused fled the country following the announcement of the sentence. Other fugitives include Myanmarese citizen and Huji leader Nurul Islam and Abu Jehad who founded the militant organisation Islami Jihad Andolon in 2005 after leaving Huji.