Ashulia bank heist was pulled off to fund Ansarullah Bangla Team, police say

Last month's robbery at Ashulia branch of Bangladesh Commerce Bank was aimed at raising funds for militant activities, say police.

Dhaka Range’s Additional DIG Khandker Golam Faruk said one of the suspected robbers, Md Jasim Uddin Asad, has alluded to fund-raising for Ansarullah Bangla Team after his arrest on Monday night.

Jasim was nabbed from the house of his aunt-in-law at Manikganj’s Doulatpur, police said at a Tuesday press briefing.

He has been hiding there since the heist, police said.

Jasim told reporters that he was a member of militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team and claimed the motive behind their robbery was to collect money for funding militant action.

Police claimed Jasim stabbed to death the bank’s Branch Manager Oliullah and another person during the Apr 21 daylight robbery.

“Jasim killed the bank manager by stabbing him on the chest during the robbery. He also stabbed a man outside the bank," Additional DIG Faruk said.

“The man who died on spot had tried to stop Jasim from fleeing.”

A group of robbers had attacked the bank’s branch with firearms, bombs and sharp weapons that day.

Six people, including bank officials, customers and bystanders were killed during the robbery.

Few others were also injured in firing and explosion.

Two of them died later at Savar’s Enam Medical College and Hospital.

The locals chased and caught two robbers after the heist when their motorcycle slipped and overturned.

One of them was lynched to death. Another, Saiful Islam, was handed over to police after a beating.

Police have arrested Jasim with injuries sustained in the firing and explosions during the heist, said Additional DIG Faruk.

Faruk said at least 10 robbers were involved in the heist. Seven of them are already in custody.

Three other suspects have been identified but are yet to be arrested, Faruk told the press briefing on Tuesday.

He claimed the robbers were members of Ansarullah Bangla Team, the radical Islamist organisation that came to the limelight in recent years for their alleged involvement in several attacks on secular writers, online activists and bloggers.

Three of the bloggers were hacked to death in attacks that pointed to a pattern.

Police are, however, yet to make any official announcements about their findings from the investigations into the killings.

Quoting those arrested for the Ashulia heist, Additional DIG Faruk said suspects Abdullah Al Baki Billah alias Mahfuz and ‘Borhan’ had links with Jamaat-e-Islami.

“They later got involved with Ansarullah Bangla Team,” he said.

“The main aim of the Ashulia heist was to raise funds for the militant outfit.”

Police had suspected involvement of the militants in the robbery after observing the pattern of killing and use of powerful bombs.

Jasim gave his confessional statement at the court of Dhaka’s Senior Judicial Magistrate on Tuesday.

He also described the incidents of Apr 21 in details including how he stabbed two people to death, said a police officer present during the confession.

The bank had filed a case over the robbery while police filed another over the lynching of a robber.

Almost the entire robbed money, nearly Tk 700,000, was recovered by the locals who chased and caught the robbers.