ARSA chief Ataullah arrested in Narayanganj

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested Myanmar-based armed group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) leader Ataullah alias Abu Amar Jununi and its nine members in Narayanganj and Mymensingh.

Meanwhile, a court placed six of them on a 10-day remand each in two cases.

Nine other arrestees are – Mostak Ahammad, 66, Solimullah, 27, and his wife Asmaul Hosna, 23, Moniruzzaman, 24, Asmat Ullah, 40, Md Hasan, 43, a 15-year-old boy from Arakan, Mosammat Shahina, 22, and a 17-year-old girl.

Moniruzzaman, a resident of Mymensingh, used to live in a rented house in the Bhumipalli residential area of Siddhirganj upazila in Narayanganj, while Solimullah, Shahina, and the 17-year-old girl were residents of Ukhiya Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar.

Earlier, a team of the Rapid Action Battalion-11 apprehended Ataullah and five others in the Bhumipalli residential area of Siddhirganj and four others in Mymensingh in the early hours of Tuesday.

The battalion also seized Tk21.39 lakh in cash from their possession.

Siddhirganj police station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Shahinur Alam said the arrestees were holding secret meetings to carry out acts of sabotage in parts of the country, including in Narayanganj and Mymensingh.

Two separate cases were filed against them, he added.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ataullah, 48, Mostak, Solimullah, Moniruzzaman, Asmat Ullah, and Hasan were produced before the court of Narayanganj Judicial Magistrate Md Moinuddin Kadir.

After a hearing, the court granted 10 days’ remand for each of the accused in the cases.

The investigating officer, however, did not submit any remand petition for interrogating other accused.

ARSA was previously known as Harakatul Yakeen.

Ataullah was born in Karachi, Pakistan after his father migrated there from Rakhine. He grew up in Makkah where he studied at a madrasa.

ARSA members in Rakhine (formerly known as Arakan state) are believed to have received modern guerrilla warfare training, and the group enjoys support and sympathy among local Rohingyas.