Bangladesh’s security agencies on Tuesday confirmed detaining 10 Myanmar Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) members, including its commander, Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi, in a series of late-night raids within the capital’s outskirts and Mymensingh in the northern part of the country.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a special anti-crime force, carried out the raids in Narayanganj, a river port city on the outskirts of Dhaka, and in Mymensingh. The authorities say the insurgents were plotting sabotage operations inside Bangladesh. Law enforcers seized 2.1 million Bangladeshi taka in cash during the raids.
“We acted on secret intelligence and arrested ARSA leader Ataullah and nine others associated with the group,” a RAB deputy director said. The suspects were charged under Bangladesh’s Anti-Terrorism Act and for their illegal entry into the country.
Ataullah is involved in profile-high crimes and has been accused of directing the 2021 murder of Rohingya peace activist Mohib Ullah within a refugee camp. He is also accused of masterminding the murder of Squadron Leader Rizwan Rushdi, a Bangladesh military intelligence agency official known as DGFI, in Cox’s Bazar.
On Tuesday, the arrested people were produced before a Narayanganj court, where the authorities applied for a 20-day remand for six of them. The court allowed for a 10-day remand. Remand was not applied for the other four detainees as they were women and children.
Ataullah, born in Pakistan but brought up in Saudi Arabia, is a Bangladeshi national. Malaysia has also termed ARSA as a terrorist organization. ARSA has been involved in violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine region. More than 1.3 million Rohingya refugees crossed the border into Bangladesh after a crackdown by the army in 2017, with another 70,000 crossing recently because of continuing fighting between Myanmar’s military and the rebel Arakan Army.
