Detectives claimed to have arrested a “Sharia Board” member of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) in the capital's Jatrabari area on Friday night but the media had reported that he was picked up from Mymensingh on March 16.
The family of Maksudur Rahman alias Abdullah, 31, claimed that he was picked up by law enforcers 22 days ago from Phulpur in Mymensingh and even the officer-in-charge of Phulpur Police Station had said Maksudur was picked up from there by detectives from Dhaka.
Monirul Islam, chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), at a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre yesterday said Maksudur, an imam of a mosque in Phulpur, went in front of a mosque near Jatrabari bus stand on Friday night to attend a meeting of ABT.
On information, a team of detectives picked him up from there around 9:20pm, said the CTTC chief. The police also recovered a laptop and some books on jihad from his possession, he added.
However, Bangla daily Prothom Alo on March 18 reported that Maksudur was picked up by police on the night of March 16 from Phulpur in Mymensingh.
The paper quoted Ali Ahmed, officer-in-change of Phulpur Police Station, “A team of detectives from Dhaka detained Maksudur Rahman and took him to Dhaka. The team did not tell us whether he had any links with militancy.”
Bangla daily Ittefaq in its report published on March 17 also quoted the OC that a team of Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police took Maksudur to Dhaka.
The paper reported that a laptop was also seized from his possession.
When The Daily Star contacted OC Ali last night, he said he had heard that the imam was picked up from Phulpur by detective branch of police from Dhaka but he did not know when it happened.
The Daily Star could not reach CTTC chief Monirul last night for comments regarding Maksudur's detention last month.
Abdul Hadi Akand, elder brother of the arrestee, said he had been looking for Maksudur since he was picked up. But police did not give him any details, reports our local correspondent.
AKM Hashem Sarkar, general secretary of the Phulpur mosque committee, said he was picked up from the mosque after Asr prayers on March 16. Maksudur has been the imam of the mosque for three and a half months and his family lives in Ashram Para in Dhara Bazar area in Haluaghat upazila, he said.
A Dhaka court yesterday placed Maksudur on a six-day remand. His lawyer reportedly claimed before the court that Maksudur had been picked up in Phulpur on March 16.
There have been many instances in which family members of arrestees and law enforcers contradicted as to when a person had been arrested. Sometimes the claimed dates were weeks apart.
At yesterday's briefing, CTTC chief Monirul claimed that Maksudur during primary interrogation admitted that he had been an ABT Sharia Board member since 2015.
He was involved in “approving punishment” of targeted victims, said Monirul, adding, the killings or attacks committed by the outfit were approved by the five-member Sharia Board.
The board mainly issues orders to eliminate bloggers or freethinkers for their alleged anti-Islamic write-ups or activities, he said.
Even though Maksudur was not involved in any operational activities, he received training on the use of machetes, firearms and “secure” mobile apps when he was staying in a hideout in Uttara's Dewanbari area in 2015, said Monirul.
Maksudur's brother Hadi, however, said he had not witnessed any militant activities of his brother, reports our correspondent in Mymensingh.