Militants pose threat

Many militant leaders and activists who had been arrested on specific charges manage to walk out of jail only to assume more crucial roles in militant activities.

Ariful Islam, who was caught fleeing after attacking Oyasiqur Rahman Babu in Tejgaon Monday morning, is a glaring example of this trend.

On January 8, 2012 he had been arrested along with 11 others on charges of receiving different types of militant training from Mittaul Ulum Madrasa at Kacharikandi under Raipura in Narsingdi. Many books on jihad were recovered from the madrasa which is located in a remote char area.

He was charged under the anti-terrorism act and sent to jail. But he managed to secure bail from a Narsingdi court three weeks later. The other arrestees were also released with him, Raipura police said.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in a charge-sheet submitted in July 2013 found Ariful, his fellow arrestees and six teachers of the madrasa guilty of militant training.

The madrasa teachers were mainly involved in bringing students from various parts f the country and providing them with militancy training, a CID official told this correspondent.

Ariful later enrolled at Hathazari Madrasa in Chittagong. Last year, he enrolled at Jamiul Ulum Madrasa in Dhaka's Mirpur area for higher studies.

Since his release, he had roamed freely in Dhaka and Chittagong. He was completely forgotten by law enforcement agencies until he was caught from Tejgaon following Oyasiqur's killing.

Joint Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Monirul Islam said police had not kept track of Ariful after he was released.

“We have to collect his records from Raipura police station where he was arrested in 2012,” he said while briefing journalists at DMP media centre.

Monirul said Ariful was encouraged by the ideology of Jasimuddin Rahmania, the then spiritual leader of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).

He attended the special lectures delivered by Rahmania after Jumma prayers at his madrasa [in the capital's Basila]. Rahmania was arrested in August 2013 on charge of killing blogger Rajib Haider. Ariful then joined ABT, said Monirul.

Anwar Hossain Faruk is another example of how a JMB leader was arrested and then released on bail to carry out a more reckless mission of attacking a police van and snatching three top JMB leaders in Trishal of Mymensingh.

Faruk, a key player behind the Trishal ambush in February last year, had been arrested from the city's Mirpur-1 area on July 10, 2007 after a brief gun fight with Rab. He secured bail in 2012 and moved freely for nearly two years to prepare for the Trishal attack, investigators said.

Aged 33, he is also the prime accused in the 2007 murder case of madrasa teacher Rafiqul Islam of Mymensingh.

There are many other examples in which militants got out of jail even after having been arrested with explosives or firearms or charged with murder, police sources wishing anonymity said.

Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, 27, was brutally hacked to death by three youths in the capital's Tejgaon Industrial area around 9:00am Monday morning.

Zikrullah, another attacker who was caught by the public and handed over to police, too is a madrasa student. He is a student of Hathazari madrasa in Chittagong.