RAB arrests nine militants in Bandarban

The arrestees include Didar Hossain Champai, training commander of the Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 13 March 2023, 08:04 AM
Updated : 13 March 2023, 08:04 AM

The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested nine members of a militant outfit, Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, including its training commander.

The RAB also seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition during an operation in Bandarban’s Tonkabaty on Sunday night, ANM Imran Khan, deputy director of RAB, said in a statement.

The existence of the new militant group came to the fore last year after the RAB started a search for a few young men who left home and went missing. It has continued to raid different locations in the hill tracts.

Since then, the elite force has arrested many members of the outfit that harbours connections with the KNF or Bawm Party, a separatist group in the hill tracts.

On Jan 23, two top leaders of the Jamaatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya were arrested near the Kutupalong Rohingya Camp in Cox’s Bazar. They took refuge in the Rohingya camp to evade the law enforcers.

The RAB arrested four members of the outfit in Chattogram on Mar 1 and said one of them was a converted Muslim who followed the instruction of a top leader and came to the plain area from his hideout in the hill tracts.