10 held in four-hour raid at ‘militant den’ in Moulvibazar

‘Operation Hillside’ at a suspected militant hideout in East Taktiuli of Moulvibazar in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila ended after four hours on Saturday.

Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police conducted the operation at a house from 6:30am-1:30am.

Ten persons, including six women, were arrested from the house. Three children are also with them.

“It is a new militant organisation named ‘Imam Mahmuder Kafela’. It is not included in the list of banned terrorist organisations in Bangladesh. Huge number of jihadi books, explosives of around 3kg, training materials and cash taka 3 lakh were recovered from their possessions,” said Mohammad Asaduzzaman, chief of the specialised unit.

Four of the arrested men are Rafiq Uddin, Abdul Hafiz, Khairul Islam and Shariful Islam. They are from SAtkhira, Kishoreganj and Naryanagnj.

All of them are being taken to Dhaka for interrogation, he added.