Police are trying to track a number of youths, mostly university students, who have been reported missing for some time, fearing they may have been recruited by militant outfits. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies have already identified at least 10 such missing youngsters, who are allegedly involved in militant activities, and sent their photographs and details to all the police stations, immigration points as well as different airports, seaports and river ports in the country.
The 10 youths are: Mohammad Bashruzzaman from Tejgaon in Dhaka, Zunaid Khan from Badda, Nazibullah Ansari from Chanpainawabganj, Ashraf Mohammad Islam from Dhaka, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury from Sylhet, Ibrahim Hasan Khan from Dhaka, ATM Tajuddin from Lakkhipur, Ibaidur Rahim from Dhanmondi in Dhaka, Mohammad Saifullah Ojaki from Sylhet and Junnun Shikder.
Sources in an intelligence agency said they have received a number of complaints from their worried parents, classmates and friends, and these were being used to verify their identities and current locations. After establishing their identities, their photographs and details would be sent to the local police stations and to all the border and immigration points in order to nab them, the sources added. Talking to The Independent, a senior police officer said that the police headquarters have asked all police stations to send the names of youths who have been missing for some time, fearing they might have joined different militant groups such as Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Jamaatul Mujahideen of Bangladesh (JMB) and its offshoot Jagrata Muslim Janata, Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad (Huji) and Shahadat-e-Al Hikma.
The perpetrators of the attacks on the Spanish cafe in Gulshan and the entrance of Eidgah Maidan at Sholakia in Kishoreganj, have been identified as young militants missing without any communication with their families for some time, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told The Independent. “We urge the people to inform the local police stations about unknown and suspicious persons in their respective areas to preclude untoward incidents,” the minister said. “We also request all parents to monitor their children and their activities.
They should inform the local police stations if they find any abnormal behaviour in their children,” he added. Kamal informed that security has been beefed up at all major public and private buildings as well as places of public gatherings. “We have heightened security at places that militant outfits threaten to attack through the social media,” he said. Sources said the law enforcement and intelligence agencies are keeping vigil on some private universities and English medium schools, where some students have been identified with militant leanings.
