Jamatul Ansar ‘leader’ Mohibullah arrested in Dhaka

Police say Mohibullah is the second-in-command of the Islamist militant group

Senior Correspondent
Published : 22 Feb 2023, 08:38 PM
Updated : 22 Feb 2023, 08:38 PM

Police have arrested Md Mohibullah, a suspected leader of the Islamist militant group Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, in Dhaka. 

After arresting Mohibullah in the capital’s Sayedabad bus terminal on Tuesday night, the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of police said he was the Nayeb-e-Amir, or second-in-command, of the organisation. 

CTTC chief Additional Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman said at a press conference that Mohibullah, Jamatul Ansar co-founder Shamin Mahfuz and doctor Shakir Bin Wali, another leader of the group, travelled to Naikkhongchhari in Bandarban in January 2022 to visit their training camp in the remote hills. 

They met Nathan Bawm, head of the tribal separatist group Kuki-Chin National Front or Bawm Party, and other leaders of the organisation there, Asaduzzaman said. Jamatul Ansar allegedly set up the camp with the Bawm Party's help. 

In a meeting at the time, they formally named the Islamist group Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya (the Jamatul Ansar east to Hindustan) and made Mohibullah the Nayeb-e-Amir, the CTTC chief said. 

Police arrested Shakir in September 2022. Shamin is still absconding. Security forces have arrested dozens of suspected militants in an operation on the hills. Many of them, mostly youths, had been reported missing by their families. 

Mohibullah, 48, told police he joined the banned outfit Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami or HuJI and took training for Islamist militancy when he was a student of Al Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Uloom Moinul Islam or Boro Madrasa at Hathazari in Chattogram. 

After finishing his studies, Mohibullah started teaching at madrasas in Bhola. As HuJI became ineffective, Mohibullah and other leaders planned to form a new organisation, Asaduzzaman said.