7 alleged members of Hizb ut-Tahrir and ABT arrested in Dhaka

Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) of the police arrested seven people in separate incidents for their alleged involvement with banned militant outfits Hizb ut-Tahrir and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) also known as Ansar al-Islam.

They were arrested from different areas of Dhaka on Thursday.

ATU Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohammad Aslam Khan confirmed the matter on Friday. 

Also Read - Police arrest suspected Hizb ut-Tahrir member

He said they learned from intelligence sources that some people were distributing online conference leaflets. Upon receiving the information, they conducted raids in Narda, Vatara, and Bashundhara residential areas on Thursday evening and arrested the six.

They are – Md Sohel, 29, Nur Mohammad alias Arun alias Nur, 30, Md Ibrahim Khalil Ullah, 21, Arnab Hasan, 21, Md Saifur Rahman alias Babar, 30, and Nur Mohammad Shakil, 26.

During the arrest, six android phones, three feature phones, and 26 posters of online conferences were seized from them, he added. 

The arrested members had been conducting various activities including anti-state conspiracies for a long time with an aim of establishing a caliphate style state, he further added.

Also Read - RAB arrest five suspected ABT members

Meanwhile, another team of ATU conducted a raid at Gabtoli bus stand on Thursday around 10:30pm and arrested Shohel Rana alias Saidul Islam Shohel alias Shohel, 26, for allegedly being involved in spreading extreme ideologies online, and negative propaganda about the prime minister, said SP Aslam.

He said during the arrest, one android phone, one feature phone, six SIM cards of different operators, one USB drive, and various extremist and provocative content in PDF form were recovered from him.

Shohel had been conducting various activities to establish a caliphate state in Bangladesh. He has been conspiring against the state through online campaigns for a long time, he added.