Twelve youths have been sent to jail under the Anti-Terrorism Act after being arrested while filming a video chanting 鈥楯oy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu鈥� in聽 Karnaphuli upazila of Chattogram.
They were detained from Khoajnagar area on July 25 evening, and the court ordered to send them to jail on Saturday after they had been produced before the Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate Court, said Karnaphuli police officer-in-charge Mohammad Sharif.
According to the police, the 12 arrestees are: Md Saiful Islam, 19, son of Badsha Mia; Abdur Rahman Zahed, 18, son of Jahangir Alam; Arafat Hossain Minhaj, 18, son of Dil Ahmed; Ashraful Jamal Riyad, 18, son of Md Hares; Md Forkan, 19, son of Md Selim; Yasin Arafat, 18; Abdul Karim Ador, 18, son of Anu Mia; Abu Hasnain Bijoy, 18, son of Abul Kalam; Md Iqbal, 19; Ashikul Islam Akash, 18; Shariful Islam, 18, son of Monir Uddin; and Akiful Islam Akib, 18, son of Md Wasim.
According to the statement of the case filed by the police, the 12 youths were arrested at around 4:30pm on July 25. Primary questioning revealed that the arrested, along with the absconding and unidentified accused, were active members of the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League.
The case statement further said that their leader was Md Monir Uddin Nayeem and they organised a procession at around 3:40pm on July 25 at Kalaiyar Dokan in Ward 6 of Khoajnagar under the Karnaphuli police with a plan to carry out attacks on various locations in Moulvibazar area. Upon spotting the police, they attempted to flee and were arrested at around 4:30pm.
Local residents said that the arrested were friends to each other and operated multiple Facebook and Tiktok pages where they upload videos. On Friday, they were filming a rally-style video shouting slogans, 鈥楯oy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu.鈥� The video, however, was never uploaded as the police intervened.
鈥楾hey were arrested under the ongoing 鈥淒evil Hunt鈥� operation,鈥� said OC Mohammad Sharif , adding the case was filed under Sections 6(2), 8, 9, and 10 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.