A Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya membres was radicalised from jail. Arrested council (Shura) member and head of the armed wing of a new militant group, Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, met JMB militants while in jail
on robbery charges and became a top leader of the new group after he was released.
Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of Rab's legal and media wing, revealed the information while briefing the media on Tuesday over the arrest of two members of the new militant group on Monday from a Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar.
He said RAB interrogated Masukur Rahman alias Ronobir alias Masud and Bashar after arresting them on Monday and got some important tip-offs. Ronobir's associate, Bashar, is a bomb-making expert.
Ronobir used to work at a post office. He also led an armed robbery gang and got arrested. Now Mashukur, who goes by the aliases Ronobir and Masud, turned out to be the chief of the military wing and shura members of the outfit.
"During his time in prison, he met the leaders and activists of JMB and decided to join forces with them," said the RAB officer.
He continued to visit JMB members in jail after his release. He had contact with their families too, he added.
In 2017, he met Rakib, a Shura member and later head of Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya's finance and media wing, and became a founding member.
Members of RAB on Monday arrested Ronobir and Bashar after a gunfight at Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Ukhia upazila of Cox's Bazar. RAB arrested the duo along with arms and explosives from a den in the camp following the gunfight.
Briefing reporters at the RAB media center, Moin said Ronobir, an expert on improvised explosive devices (IED), became the military wing chief a year ago.
Under the direction of their ameer, he organised several shura committee meetings in different parts of the country including Cumilla.
He was involved in the disappearance of four youths from Sylhet in November 2021, he said. "He visited the hill tracts several times and supervised training of military wing members," Moin said.
The other arrestee Bashar was an operative of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh before he joined the Jama'atul Ansar in 2016 or 2017. He was in RAB's list of 50 youths who left their homes to join Hijrah in last two years.
