4 'ABT men' held in Ctg

Police in drives on Sunday night in Sitakunda upazila held four suspected activists of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).

The arrests were made on the basis of intelligence reports that the ABT men were planning to carry out attacks on members of law enforcement agencies and different important establishments in the upazila, said police.

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The four are identified as Musa Ebne Omayer, 25, of Patiya; Shipon alias Foysal, 25, of Brahmanbaria; Khorshed Alam, 31, of Anwara; and Russell Md Islam, 40, of Kumira in Sitakunda.

Mostafizur Rahman, additional superintendent of police (north), said the four were detained during drives at Barabkunda and adjacent areas in Sitakunda.

Four swords, four machetes, one laptop, one tablet computer and six mobile phone sets were recovered from their possession, he said, adding that a large number of jihadi multimedia discs and documents containing instructions on attacks on police were also seized.

Rezaul Masud, additional superintendent of Special Branch (CMP), said Musa is converted to Islam. Earlier, he worked as a quality inspector at a garment factory in the Chittagong EPZ area.

“We've information that the ABT men were planning to carry out attacks on law enforcers and important establishments in Sitakuda,” he said, adding that the ABT men had been under their watch for the last few days.

Filing of a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act with Sitakunda Police Station was underway, said police sources.

If the four ABT men are placed under police remand, the police would interrogate them to find out whether they had any connection with the Gulshan attack on July 1 or with any subversive activities in the country, Rezaul added.