Child held in Habiganj for 'Neo-JMB ties'

 
The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has detained a child in Habiganj for his alleged involvement with the banned militant outfit Neo-Jama'at Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB).

The detention comes after the narrative surrounding militancy in Bangladesh has seen shifts under the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

Former DMP commissioner Sazzat Ali had previously stirred discussion by dismissing the existence of militancy in the country.

He had claimed that the previous Awami League government used "militancy" as a tool to target and suppress dissent.

Despite those assertions, at least one known militancy-related arrest was made during Sazzat's tenure.

On Jan 31, a 50-year-old man named Ahsan Zahir Khan was arrested in the capital's Zia Uddan for suspected militant links, leading to a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station.

The term "Neo-JMB" was coined by police during the Awami League administration to describe followers of the Salafi ideology inspired by the Islamic State (IS).

While the police used this label, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) historically referred to the same faction as the "Sarwar-Tamim" group in their official records.

In a media statement issued on Friday, the DMP said the detained child was in contact with Zahir and his associates.

According to the CTTC, the minor was "extremely active online", sharing extremist content in support of "Dawlatul Islam" (IS) to recruit new members.

"He shared PDF files on bomb-making and used close associates to incite and plan attacks on Shia mosques, police checkpoints, and ISKCON temples," the DMP statement read.

The child was taken into custody on Thursday afternoon during a raid in Habiganj Sadar.