3 held lawyers `confess` to terror funding

Joynal Abedin Khan :Three lawyers arrested recently for allegedly financing militancy, reportedly confessed to their crimes before a Chittagong court on Sunday.They also admitted to provide money to the Chittagong-based militant outfit Shaheed Hamza Brigade for purchasing weapons.The lawyers are Barrister Shakila Farzana, Advocate Md Hasanuzzaman Liton and Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapon. They gave confessional statements to the court of Banshkhali’s Senior Judicial Magistrate Sazzad Hossain under Section 164. The court, later, ordered to send them to jail rejecting their bail prayers.Earlier, police produced them before the court after a four-day interrogation.Shakila Farzana and Hasanuzzaman Liton practises at the Supreme Court while Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapon is an advocate at Dhaka Judges Court.Farzana is the daughter of Syed Wahidul Alam, a former BNP Whip from Chittagong.Defence lawyer Abdus Sattar said that the accused gave confessional statements before the court and sought bail. But the court prescribed jail for them.On August 18, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the three lawyers from Dhanmondi in the capital in connection with financing Shaheed Hamza Brigade.The following day, a Banshkhali court placed them on a four-day remand each in connection with a case filed with Banshkhali Police Station. The three were shown arrested in the case.RAB claimed that the lawyers have given Tk 13.87 million to militant organisation Shaheed Hamza Brigade for purchasing weapons.In February, the elite force arrested 29 brigade members in Chittagong and recovered a huge cache of weapons and explosives.RAB-7 has found that with the money, Hamza Brigade had purchased at least 25 sophisticated local and foreign-made arms, including eight AK22 rifles, 4443 rounds of bullets, 76 powerful bombs, 150Kg explosives, and 30 types of bomb-making materials with which around 2,000 bombs can be made. The law enforcers also recovered audio-visual training materials and jihadi documents from the dens busted in Chittagong region since February.The Chief of Hamza Brigade is believed to have fled to Malaysia. Meanwhile, the arrested leaders and activists of militant groups confessed at custodies of law enforcing agencies that their organizations are funded by organisations and individuals from home and abroad, Detective sources said. The funds are mainly used for establishing mosques and madrasas, or as aid to so-called NGOs working for the welfare of persecuted Muslims, mainly the Rohingyas living in low situation in the country, they said.The militants are taking advantage of the ordinary Muslims while recruiting new members. They try to convince the youths, mostly from poor families or the Rohingyas, by saying that their activities are meant for pleasing the Almighty and saving the religion from the clutches of anti-Islam quarters.Investigators have also found that a Dubai-based person named Allama Libdi also financed the group during his visits to Chittagong last year.In November, the Detective Branch of Police nabbed Myanmar sectarian outfit Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) Bangladesh Chapter’s top leaders Salamatullah and Shafiullah, an Awami League leader of Naikkhyangchhari Upazila in Bandarban, Global Rohingya Centre (GRC) Vice-President Mohammad Alam, and also a Pakistani national, for funding militant groups.The members of outlawed militant groups-JMB, HujiB, Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Ansarullah Bangla Team-are working in cohort to establish an Islamic state with the help of international terrorist group Islamic State by 2020.To implement their agenda, four IS members visited Chittagong in last October and sat with the top leaders of the four banned outfits. Major (retd) Emdadul Islam, a security expert, said that the Ministries concerned should strictly monitor money transaction by foreign organisations and individuals. Moreover, visas must be issued only after tight scrutiny.Given the rise of militant activities, the Chittagong Metropolitan Police have decided to reshuffle its anti-militancy cell, Abdul Jalil Mandal, Commissioner of CMP, told The New Nation on Sunday.”Islamist militant activities have now spread across India and Bangladesh from Pakistan and Afghanistan as the ordinary Muslims of this region are blind about Islam,” he said.He thinks that the spread of the militant and radical outfits can be prevented through proper education on religion. On the other hand, the authorities should strictly monitor suspected bank transactions, the police official said.