One militant fled nine years ago and two in 2022. How long will it take to recapture them?

Top security officials and government high-ups insist that there’s no lack of sincerity on their part, despite having limited resources

Salahuddin Salehin, a top leader of the outlawed militant group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, was snatched by his cohorts from a prison van in Mymensingh’s Trishal in 2014. As he is still at large, law-enforcement agencies face a question: how long will it take to recapture those who escaped just two months ago?  

Salehin’s daring escape stung Bangladesh police more as a fellow man in uniform was killed during the melee. On Nov 20 last year, several police officers were injured by a chemical sprayed by the militants during the escape of two of their leaders from the Dhaka court area.  

WHO IS SALEHIN? 

• Salahuddin Salehin was a founding member of JMB. After breaking out of custody in 2014, intel suggests, the fugitive militant went on to co-found the Indian unit of Jama'atul Mujahideen or JMI, along with Mizan, commonly known as Boma Mizan in the law enforcement circle, who was indicted in multiple explosions attack in Bihar and West Bengal. 

• India’s National Investigation Agency arrested Mizan in Bengaluru in 2018, but Salehin, who, according to NIA, later reinvented himself as Hafizur Rahman Sheikh alias Mahin. The Indian agency put Salehin on its ‘most wanted’ list. 

• The Bangladesh government announced a Tk 500,000 bounty for Salehin’s capture.

Ansar Al Islam militants who escaped last year from the heart of the capital’s legal district were on death row for multiple counts of killing and militancy charges.   

The militants – Md Abu Siddique Sohel and Moinul Hasan Shamim – were being escorted by a unit of the police to a van from a courthouse when attackers overpowered the policemen and helped the duo escape in a getaway motorcycle, CCTV footage later revealed.

Law enforcement agencies have no clue where they are. 

Some law enforcement officials suggested that since the militants hardly use any traditional channel to communicate with each other and maintain a strict code of secrecy, which is known as the “cut-out” system in the intelligence circle, it is challenging to extract information from any apprehended militants about their associates. In most cases, they do not know their fellow militants. 

Top security officials and government high-ups interviewed for this article insisted that there was no lack of sincerity on their part, despite having limited resources. 

Khandker Golam Faruq, the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said many suspects had been arrested in connection with the escape. 

“We are doing our best. So far we know, they are hiding out somewhere within the country,” he said.

WHO IS SOHEL? 

• According to the DMP's counterterrorism unit, Md Abu Siddique Sohel is also known as Shakib, Sajid, and Shahab. Sohel’s family originated from Lalmonirhat’s Aditmari Upazila but later settled on the outskirts of Dhaka.

• Sohel was a student of Government Titumir College in Dhaka before being involved in militancy, and intel suggests that he worked for a private company for a while in 2017, a year before his arrest. 

• Sohel was convicted and sentenced to death for his involvement in the killings of writers Avijit Roy, Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy and publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan.

• He is also accused in six other militancy cases.

COMPLETE SUCCESS ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ 

Independent militancy experts and criminologists interviewed by bdnews24.com agree that the failure to recapture the escapees has raised questions over the law enforcement agencies’ capacity. They fear the escapes may encourage some citizens to be more involved in criminal acts. 

Zia Rahman, chairman of Dhaka University’s criminology department, believes that a lack of professionalism among security personnel plays some part in the episode.

“It’s unfortunate that a convicted criminal escapes from custody in such a fashion. I appreciate the government’s zero-tolerance policy against militancy and law-enforcement agencies’ efforts to maintain it. However, such escapes diminish their successes and instead encourage people with questionable morale to be engaged in criminal activities,” he said. 

Abdur Rashid, a security analyst, was more sympathetic to the law enforcement agencies. The retired major general said a few setbacks could not determine the outcome of an extensive campaign of rooting out militancy.

“You cannot expect 100 percent success in an anti-militancy campaign, not even with the best equipment, workforce and resources. Any such large campaign will have both outcomes in the short term -- success and setbacks.” 

“Yes, the successful escapes of militants from custody were setbacks. But that doesn’t change the course of the fundamental goals of this campaign in general. The law enforcement agencies need to do some calibration and slight course correction.”

WHO IS SHAMIM? 

• Moinul Hasan Shamim is also known as Sifat, Samir and Imran. A native of Chhatak Upazila in Sunamganj, Shamim was arrested in 2017 by the detectives of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, a year after the government announced a bounty on his head along with five other militants. 

• Shamim was convicted of multiple counts of militancy charges.

Rashid accused Islamist political parties of failing to take a clear stance on militancy, which he said provided impetus to radicalisation.  

“Our political system is somewhat responsible for the growth of militancy. Islamist political parties do not take any clear stance on this subject, which somewhat protects the militant school of thought,” he said. 

The retired army officer suggested that de-radicalisation is more important than punishing the militants. 

“Militants attempt to manipulate young minds with misguided ideologies. The government, law enforcement agencies and society, in general, have some responsibility to prevent that.”

[Written in English by Adil Mahmood and Md Taif Kamal]