RAB says the three of the four female activists of banned group Jam'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) are students of a private university while the other is an intern doctor at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Published : 16 Aug 2016, 05:27 PM
At a media briefing on Tuesday, it said one of those arrested is the adviser to the militant outfit’s female wing.
They have been identified as Manarat University pharmacy department students Aklima Rahman, ‘Mou’ and ‘Meghna’ while the fourth ‘Oishi’ is an intern at the DMCH.
RAB claims Aklima is the adviser.
It said that the information of female JMB operatives surfaced after the arrest of the group’s ‘southern region chief’ Mahmudul Hasan from Gazipur’s Tongi on Jul 21.
Mirpur-based RAB-4 chief Lutful Kabir told the media that their investigations, based on information from Hasan, revealed that a female activist going by the name Aklima Rahman had collected funds of Tk 12,000 in June.
“Aklima ran PR initiatives at different areas in the name of Arabic studies. She was arrested early on Monday from Gazipur,” he said.
The elite police unit said that they have found ‘substantial information of militant activities’ from Aklima’s mobile phone.
“Aklima has been involved with the group for almost one and a half years. She used to collect funds for the outfit and hand it over to Mahmudul Hasan,” said Kabir, an additional deputy inspector general.
Aklima reportedly told RAB that out of the Tk 12,000 collected in June, Tk 8,000 was given to her by Manarat University student Oishi, who has been involved with the JMB for the last three years.
Oishi was arrested on Monday night at Dhaka’s Maghbazar and the RAB says they have found jihadi materials in her laptop.
Mou was picked up from Dhaka’s Mirpur and Meghna was detained from the same area upon her information, said RAB.
In a statement, the force said Mou ‘destroyed’ her mobile phone's memory card during the raid. Her laptop also contained ‘jihadi materials’ and books on extremist views were found at her home.
Aklima Rahman
>> Fourth-year pharmacy department student at Manarat University; enrolled in 2013.
>> Completed HSC in 2012 from Dhaka’s Holy Child College and SSC in 2010 from Uttara High School.
Oishi
>> Both parents of the intern at Dhaka Medical College Hospital are doctors.
>> Enrolled at the DMC after clearing her HSC exams from Dhaka’s Viqarunnisa Noon School and College in 2010.
>> Father Biswas Akter Hossain works at the DMCH and mother Nasima Sultana is a gynaecologist at the Sirajul Islam Medical College Hospital.
Mou
>> Enrolled at Manarat University’s pharmacy department in 2013.
>> Completed HSC from the BCIC College at Dhaka’s Mirpur.
>> Cleared SSC from Mirpur’s Islamia Adarsha High School
Meghna
>> Fourth-year pharmacy student at Manarat University.
>> Cleared her school-leaving SSC exams from Dhaka’s Ahmednagar High School in 2011.
>> Completed HSC from Dhaka’s Cambrian College in 2013, the same year she was married off by her family.
Police had also claimed three of those held in Tangail were members of the Islamist group’s suicide squad.
Security agencies have been blaming the JMB for the rising wave of targeted killings and terror attacks, including the ones at Dhaka’s Gulshan and Kishoreganj’s Sholakia.
It later emerged that the Gulshan cafe killers and Sholakia attackers were students of private universities and reported missing by their families.
The list of people released by RAB, who went missing in the last few months and are suspected to be involved in militancy, also features a few females.