Police headquarters have confirmed the whereabouts of Ataul Islam Sabuj believed to be financing terror plots in the country. An Islamic State operative, Sabuj is living in Spain and sent Tk 38 lakh 86 thousand in 2015 by using a network of companies operating from Spain.
Interpol's Bangladesh National Central Bureau (NCB) Assistant Inspector General Mahbubur Rahman said all information about Sabuj would be sent to Interpol and Bangladesh embassy in Spain. Bangladesh would seek Interpol help to arrest him, he said.
Sabuj is the younger brother of Saiful Sujan who was killed by a US drone strike in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the terror outfit IS.
FBI informed Bangladesh law enforces on December 10, 2015 that Sujan and his associates originally set up the Ibacs network of companies to offer website and printing services to restaurants and takeaways.
In July 2015, a company called Advance Technology Global (ATG) was created and registered at the Alexandra Gate business address, the FBI claims.
This company sends money to some addresses in Bangladesh.
Detective Branch of Police arrested Abul Hasnat, father of Sujan, Hasanul Haq Galib another younger brother of Sujan, Tajul Islam Sakil, brother-in-law of Sujan, Nihiduzzaman Mia Nahid, official of the company, on December 10, 2015 from BDDL Bhaban at Karwan Barzar in Dhaka. A case was filed with Tejgaon Police Station in this connection.
The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit also confirmed that Sujon sent money to Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, a mastermind of Gulshan café attack and was killed during a joint forces' raid on a house in Narayanganj Sadar upazila last year.
Transcripts of a Skype conversation between Sujan and another Ibacs director in Cardiff obtained by the FBI reveals that Sujan was the real brains behind ATG.
Sujan came to the UK to study in 2003 and was followed by his wife two years later. They have a son, Amanul, born in 2011, and lived in Pontypridd, but later moved to a rented townhouse in Cardiff, close to the Alexandra Gate business park. The couple briefly moved back to Bangladesh before travelling to Turkey with their son.
Ibacstel Electronics was dissolved in March 2016 and ATG was wound up eight months ago.
Other Ibacs-linked firms continue to operate from a new office in Newport but there is no suggestion that they are involved in any wrongdoing, police say quoting newspaper reports.
The FBI disclosures raise fears of further attacks in Europe.
A recently unsealed FBI affidavit reveals that investigators in the US have been looking into a global financial network which used fake eBay transactions to funnel money to an alleged operative in the U.S.
