Blogger killing: Key cyber watch cell militant held

Detectives say they held a militant whose job was to monitor online activities of free-thinking bloggers and secular activists, identify possible targets and report to the military wing commander of Ansar al-Islam.  

Khairul Islam alias Jamil alias Rifat alias Fahim alias Jisan, 24, also a key suspect in the killing of blogger Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy and publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, was arrested near Kamalapur Railway Station on Friday night.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

He admitted monitoring activities of Niladri and Dipan and passing on the intelligence to sacked army major Syed Ziaul Haque, the military wing commander of the militant outfit.

Known in the militant circle as Boro Bhai (big brother), Zia played a vital role in every targeted killing linked to Ansar al-Islam, said Abdul Baten, joint commissioner of Detective Branch of police.

Khairul, who was recruited in 2014 for his expertise in information technology, admitted meeting Zia for the last time on September 26 this year in some place on the outskirts of Dhaka.

He told investigators that he had four to five men as teammates, and all of them were tasked with monitoring online activities of persons the outfit considered “anti-Islam”.

“We have also showed him [Khairul] the footage related to the Avijit murder and he spotted four persons as his teammates,” Baten said during a press conference at the DMP Media Centre yesterday.

Khairul could not reveal identities of any of his teammates, claiming that they never discussed anything beyond organisational matters even though they lived in same apartment.

They only used pseudonyms. 

An orphan, Khairul was found to have lived in Chittagong with his siblings in 2013. He went to MA Salam High School and Foujdarhat Collegiate School before he started studying BBA at Pahartali College.

“He was introduced to an Ansar al-Islam man and met Boro Bhai in 2014. He was recruited as a member of the IT section as he was skilled in computer operation and IT,” said Baten.

Khairul was taken on a five-day remand yesterday after he was produced in Niladri murder case before a Dhaka court. Seven other suspects have been arrested in the case.

Niladri was hacked to death at his residence on August 7, 2015. The murder was claimed by Ansar al-Islam, said to be the Bangladesh chapter of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).

Ansar al-Islam was previously called Ansarullah Bangla Team.

On October 31 last year, Dipan, a publisher of free-thinking writer-blogger Avijit Roy, was murdered at his office at Aziz Super Market in Dhaka's Shahbagh.

The same day another publisher Ahmedur Rashid Tutul and his two blogger friends were hacked at his Lalmatia office. 

Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility also for the attacks on Dipan, Tutul and the other two.

Before Khairul's arrest on Friday, five other suspects were arrested and three of them confessed to killing Dipan and hacking Tutul and two others.

Police are yet to submit charge sheets in the cases.

Khairul and four to five others were in the IT cell that primarily selected the possible targets, mostly from bloggers, and analysed their online activities.

The cell then informed Zia about its findings including whereabouts of the possible targets.

“It was the Boro Bhai who finalised the hit list and assign specific persons to monitor the targets,” the police official said.

Khairul was asked to follow Dipan and Niladri.

With adequate info in hands following the monitoring, Zia instructed the operation wing to execute the targets. 

“Khairul and his team monitored the victims until the operations were conducted. After the targets were executed, they uploaded a statement about the operation on their website.”

Before being killed, Niladri was closely monitored by Khairul for five months. The killing took place after Khairul delivered information on the blogger to Boro Bhai.

Similar preparations were made before the Dipan murder.

This was how Khairul played a key role in the two murders even though he didn't take part in the attacks in person.

In the capital, Khairul received trainings in militant dens in phases -- in Shewrapara for two days, on Elephant Road for seven days and in Mohammadpur for several days.

Interrogators have learnt that he had some more targets but the militant group wasn't successful in those cases.                            

ZIA UNDER 'CLOSE WATCH'

Last month, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal claimed that Zia was under “close watch” and would be arrested anytime.

Earlier in August, the Police Headquarters declared cash rewards of Tk 20 lakh for information leading to the arrest of the militant kingpin.

Sacked from the Bangladesh army for his 2012 coup attempt, Zia is from Mostafapur of Moulvibazar Sadar upazila.

MURDERS LINKED TO ANSAR AL-ISLAM

Ansarullah Bangla Team, later renamed Ansar al-Islam, is allegedly responsible for the killings of Ahmed Rajib Haider on February 15, 2013; Avijit Roy on February 26, 2015; Oyasiqur Rahman on March 30, 2015; Ananta Bijoy Das on May 12, 2015; Niladri on August 7, 2015, and Nazim Uddin Samad on April 6 this year.

The victims were bloggers and online activists and critical of religious bigotry.  

The militant outfit also claimed responsibility for the killings of LGBT rights activist Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Tonoy on April 25 this year.