Members of the banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) had been planning to kill a daily newspaper editor, said the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). 

The elite force briefed the media at its Kawran Bazar media centre on Friday (Feb 1) noon following the arrest of four suspected ABT members.

The arrestees identified as Sharier Nafis Ammar Hossain, 20, Md Rasel alias Sajedul Islam Gifary, 24, Rabiul Islam alias Nurul Islam, 24. and Abdul Malek, 31 were detained from Uttara around 2am on Friday.

“They had been planning target killing mission against listed online activists and bloggers,” said RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan.
“Online activists and bloggers have been victims of ABT’s ‘Target and killing’ in the past. They are now trying to identify online activists and bloggers from social media platforms using fake identities and profiles. This time around they were planning to kill an editor of a national daily, which published a criticism of hadith (traditions or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) on marriage.” he said.

“They have been trying to recruit new members to revive the organization,” said Khan before adding, “They even found a place in Patuakhali for training and ordered arms to carry out their killing missions.”

“However, we were able to detain them before they could act on their plots,” Khan said.  

“Their main objective was to free the organization’s chief Jasimuddin Rahmani from jail. They even hatched plans to break Rahmani out of jail if they fail to get him released through legal means,” he added.