Militancy is yet to end in the country although 18 years have passed since the countrywide series bomb blasts took place on August 17, 2005 and there was no major attack until 2016. However, the trial of cases filed in connection with the countrywide series bomb blasts are yet to be completed in last 18 years.
The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) identified a new militant outfit 'Imam Mahmuder Kafela' this month. Another new militant outfit Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya identified last year which has already been banned.
Those are still active as these have joined the new militant outfit Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya," RAB sources said that those who were involved in the militancy earlier are mobilizing to destabilize the country under a new name.
At least 41 cases are still under prosecution. The banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) carried out attacks in 434 places of 63 out of 64 districts only to show their power.
Recent reports have drawn attention to the arrest of nearly 500 Islamist militants over the past year and to the online activity of militant organizations. Terrorist organizations also use different social media outlets and encrypted messaging apps to reach Bangladeshi youth.
As many as 118 cases out of 159 in connection with the series bomb blasts have so far been disposed of in connection with countrywide series bomb blasts in 2005.
In the cases, different courts sentenced at least 322 people. Of them 15 people were awarded death sentences while 193 were given life term and 247 others to various prison terms. At least 322 militants were released from jail and were rehabilitated to normal life. Over 1,200 people were arrested at different times in connection with the series bomb blasts on August 17.
In Dhaka, 17 cases were filed after the series blast. Of them, five cases have been dissolved; final reports have been submitted in six cases while five cases are being tried in Dhaka Judicial Court.
Militant outfit JMB drew attention with the 2001 Satkhira cinema bombing. The group carried out nearly 50 attacks at different places of Bangladesh since then, killing at least 100 people until 2013.
Commander Khandaker Al Moin Director of Legal and Media Wing of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said a number of former militants are trying to reorganize to destabilize the country.
Addressing a press conference at RAB Media Centre in city's Karwan Bazar on Wednesday afternoon he said that August 17 is the 18 years of the serial bomb blasts across the country.
"Militancy has been inactive during last few years but in recent times the militants are again trying to destabilize the country by reorganizing themselves," Al Moin said.
He said that the main mandate of the elite anti-crime force is to contain, eliminate by arresting the militants, So far, a total of nine militant organisations have been banned in the country including the recently banned militant organization Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya.
"We have seen that JMB carried out the series of bomb attacks across the country on August 17, when Harkatul Jihad Al-Islami (HUJI) was also active. Last year, the RAB has arrested JMB's self-proclaimed Amir Ujjal Master during a bank robbery," said Commander Al Moin.
Meanwhile, law enforcers failed to arrest Salahuddin alias Salehin, chief of the terrorist group old Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), who is hiding somewhere in India.
Salehin, ambushed in film style a prison van at Trishal in Mymensingh in 2014, Salahuddin has been out of reach of the security services, despite their success in arresting many top terrorists in recent times. Salehin has also been sentenced to death in the series bomb blast case, according to sources.
Law enforcers believed Salahuddin alias Salehin, chief of JMB is hiding in Afghanistan.
Investigators said although their activities were now off and on, 'they no more have the capacity like they had in the past as almost all of their leaders have been arrested and many of them hanged.'
Excepting for two top leaders - Shayakh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam, commonly known as Bangla Bhai - the authorities are yet to punish the field-level executors of the serial blasts that portrayed the secular country as a "new breeding ground of Islamic militancy" globally, harming its economic potentiality.
The military-led interim government on March 29 in 2007 executed six JMB men including the duo as the court handed down capital punishment, destroying the JMB network.
He said, "We got information that these organizations like JMB or Harkatul Jihad are suffering from financial crisis. Besides, there was a leadership crisis among them. He said they are also recruiting new members, while the RAB detectives are working intensively to arrest them. Apart from RAB, other law enforcement agencies are also working on it.
However, RAB detectives are working in coordination with other law enforcement agencies to determine whether they are working to attack or destabilize the country.
