Militant suspects
Towseef, Sejad hiding inside country
Two youths, Towseef Hossain and Sejad Rouf, alias Ark, alias Morokko, missing since long from their homes, are reportedly hiding inside the country after the militant attack on a Gulshan caf on July 1. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies said that they might have chosen terrorism in the name of Islam and are likely to commit terrorist activities. Sources in the immigration department said Towseef, holding passport Nos. BE 0352761 and W0559227, and Sejad, holding passport No. 476145992, have not left the country yet.
If they return home to normal life, law enforcement agencies will not take action against them, a senior police officer told this correspondent on condition of anonymity. Parents of the two youths, missing for the past several months, have appealed to them to return.
Both the youths are from well-to-do families. Towseefs father is a doctor living in the citys Banani area. Sejads father, Towheed Rouf, is highly educated and lives at Baridhara in Gulshan. With this two, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has released a list of 262 young men missing from various parts of the country in recent times. Till yesterday (Thursday), at least 16 of them from five districts have either returned home or contacted their family members. Seven are from Chittagong, six from Comilla and one each from Dhaka, Pabna and Bogra.
Three of the terrorists who led the Gulshan caf attack are from affluent families in Dhaka and went missing four to six months before the attack. After the Gulshan attack, the government urged people to come forward and inform law enforcement agencies if someone in their family is missing. Many families have come forward and informed police about their missing members.
RAB director general Benazir Ahmed on Monday announced a Tk. 1,000,000 reward for former militants who are willing to cooperate by providing information to law enforcers after returning to normal life. A regular individual who provides information on militant activities will be given Tk. 5,00,000 and their identities will be kept secret.
On July 1, terrorists killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners and two policemen, at the Spanish restaurant Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan. On July 7, four people, including two policemen, a woman and a suspected assailant, died in an attack near the Sholakia Eidgah.
Meanwhile, police yesterday arrested a woman in Narsingdi, claimed to be one of the four suspect involved in the Gulshan Holey Artisan Bakery attack whose picture, captured on CCTV footage, had been published by the RAB.
The arrestee was identified by police as Ruma Akter, 25. She was arrested from her home in Charkukri village of Shibpur in Narsingdi district. Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia told The Independent that they had brought the woman to Dhaka and was quizzing her to extract information.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Tuesday released the CCTV footage of four suspected terrorists including a woman linked to the Dhaka cafe attack, the countrys worst terror assault by militants that killed 20 hostages, mostly foreigners.
