DHAKA: A Bangladesh-origin British citizen, who fought in Syria, has been placed on a three-day remand for his alleged link to the militant party called Islamic State (IS).

Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court granted the remand after the city police produced Samiun Rahman alias Ibn Hamdan before the court seeking a 10-day remand.

Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) detained the suspected IS member in city’s Kamlapur Rail Station at 11:00pm on Sunday.

DB also seized six cell phones, a British passport, ATM cards, and bank cheque book from his possession.

Later, the law enforcement agency held a press conference on Samiun’s detention at DMP Media Centre in city’s Minto Road on Monday morning followed by producing him before the court.

DMP joint-commissioner Monirul Islam briefed the media saying, in a desperate move to recruit manpower from Bangladesh, the members of IS are highly active in online.

They use socials media websites like Facebook, he added.

The DMP official said, Samiun came to Bangladesh several times to recruit jihadists for IS and al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front of Syria.

Monirul said, Samiun, whose forefathers used to live in Habiganj, was born at an aristocratic family in the United Kingdom and completed higher education there.

The official went on saying, they use online as an easy and secured media to hire new militants.

During interrogation in police custody, Samiun claimed that before joining to the IS, he was much like the people of the ‘Age of Jahiliyah’ (Ignorance); now he found the true way.

He told the police that he along with a friend went to Syria from UK via Turkey and joined in ‘jihadi’ activities on behalf of al-Nusra Front there from September to December of 2013.

The man also traveled to Mauritania and Morocco to collect people to join in jihad, Monirul told the journalists.

Samiun’s Mission in Bangladesh

Samiun’s mission in Bangladesh began when he first came to know a Bangladesh citizen Asif Adnan alias Zulkarnain, through the Facebook Fan page of Peace TV anchor Anthony.

Asif was interested to join in jihad in Syria. Later, Samiun visited Bangladesh past February to recruit people for Syrian conflicts.

On September 24, DB detained four people including Asif. The three other detainees were Fazle Elahi Tanzil, Sekender Ali Naki, and Tasnim alias Nahid.

Monirul said, after interrogation, the detainees unveiled ins and outs of Samiun and his Bangladesh mission.

The IS-man suspect planned to send a team to Syria from the country through building a communication to the different banned militant outfits with the help of other detainees, he added.

Samiun’s goal was to setup a militant network for Bangladesh and Myanmar following Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s recent declaration to open Al-Qaeda Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS) branch, said the official.

Police collected several SMS (short massage service) of the detainees as the evidence, which they sent to each other for communication.

During interrogation, Samiun admitted he had several associates in Bangladesh and they were Asif, Zaber, Abu Naina and Abdullah, said Monirul.

He added, the other detainees also admitted that led by Samiun, they took preparation for ‘jihad’ to establish a Sharia-based state in Bangladesh.

Having motivated by al-Qaeda chief’s speeches, the detainees had planned to carry out destructive activities by building a militant network with the help of each other, told the official.

BDST: 1955 HRS, SEP 28, 2014