Wife of alleged extremist Nowroz Rayed Amin was arrested in Dhaka last year and now in jail.
Nowroz was detained by Australian Police on terrorism offence Saturday, but Sadia Amin was apprehended by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from Chawkbazar area in Dhaka on Oct 2 last year.
Meanwhile, Australian police has contacted with local authorities seeking information about Nowroz connection in Bangladesh.
Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Deputy Commissioner Mohibul Islam Khan told Bangla Tribune, “We got a request from the Australian police and are investigating about the activities of Nowroz in Bangladesh.”
Nowroz, who married to Sadia in 2014 under a family arrangement, inspired his wife to be an extremist and later she became a member of new Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
RAB 3 Commander Lieutenant Colonel Emranul Hasan told the Bangla Tribune, “Nowroz inspired his wife to become an extremist.”
Sources in Lalbagh area, where she lived, said Sadia completed her ‘O’ level exam from Maple Leaf school in Dhaka in 2015 and later joined a kindergarten school in old part of the city as a teacher.
She lived with her family in a multi-storied building named Khawaza Tower in Chawkbazar area, they said.
How Sadia was arrested
Rab arrested Imam Mehedi Hasan, a JMB commander, from Khilgaon area on Sept 21 last year.
He was taken in remand twice and disclosed information about other local and foreign accomplices including Sadia and Nowroz.
RAB Senior Assistant Police Super Belayet Hossain said, “Based on his information, we conducted a raid in Chawkbazar area and arrested Sadia.”
In preliminary interrogation, Sadia told the law enforcing agency that she got married to Australian resident Nowroz in Nov 2014.
Bangladeshi-origin Nowroz, alias Abu Atar, was born in England, but his family moved to Australia permanently in 1995 and he travelled to Dhaka in 2014 and 2015 staying here for six months.
Belayet Hossain said, Nowroz engaged in extremism before his marriage and during his stay in Bangladesh in 2015, he met a fundamentalist who introduced him with Mehedi Hasan, who was also detained by the RAB.
Mehedi kept in touch with Nowroz through Sadia, said Lieutenant Colonel Emranul Hasan.
Quoting confessional statement of Sadia given in a court, Emran said, “Through Sadia, Nowroz gave Tk one lakh to Mehedi when he sought Tk seven lakh to buy arms.”
Meanwhile, an Australian police press release said, Nowroz, a man from Ingleburn, has been charged with terrorism-related offences.
He was arrested from his home Saturday.
It will be alleged in court the man was stopped from traveling to Bangladesh in February 2016 – after an examination of his luggage by Australian Border Force (ABF) officers at Sydney Airport – when he was found in possession of items that indicated his support for extremist ideology.
These items included clothing and material contained in electronic devices.
An investigation was undertaken by the NSW JCTT to determine the circumstances of the matter, and it will be further alleged the man was planning to travel to Bangladesh to meet with people who held similar beliefs and to possibly engage in terrorist acts outside of Australia.