RAB nabs Green Crescent founder Faisal, GS Badal
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Founder of the undercover charity styled Green Crescent Faisal Mostafa and its General Secretary Saifuddin Badal were held in Vogra area under Sadar Upazila of Gazipur district, RAB officials said Monday, reports UNB.
Additional Director General (ADG) of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Colonel Rezanur Rahman told reporters at a press briefing at the RAB headquarters in the afternoon that "both Faisal and Saifuddin are in custody."
Acting on information, he said, a team of RAB headquarters intelligence wing and another team of RAB-8 jointly conducted a drive in the area at about 4:00am and picked up the two, who had been on the run since huge militancy materials and weaponry were seized in a raid on the madrasa-cum-orphanage in the coastal district of Bhola.
The ADG said they would hand over the two suspects to Borhanuddin thana police in Bhola.
Col Rezanur, however, said they have not yet found any information about the involvement of the two persons in harbouring militants.
Faisal, a Bangladeshi-born British citizen, founded a UK-based controversial NGO under the name, Green Crescent, which allegedly channeled funds through a British charity to patronise militants.
The NGO constructed the madrasa-cum-orphanage on a vast 12-acre plot of land at Ramkeshob village of Borhanuddin Upazila in Bhola from where it conducted its activities.
On March 24, RAB men raided the madrasa and seized huge firearms, ammunition, grenades and bomb-making materials and a number of Jihadi books.
The elite crime-busters arrested four suspected militants -- Abul Kalam, Abdul Halim, Jasim and Moulana Mohammad Russell -- during the raid.
Later, during interrogation, Russell reportedly gave elaborate information about Faisal and Badal.
Following his information RAB personnel conducted the drive in Gazipur in the early hours of the day Monday and ran them in.
Additional Director General (ADG) of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Colonel Rezanur Rahman told reporters at a press briefing at the RAB headquarters in the afternoon that "both Faisal and Saifuddin are in custody."
Acting on information, he said, a team of RAB headquarters intelligence wing and another team of RAB-8 jointly conducted a drive in the area at about 4:00am and picked up the two, who had been on the run since huge militancy materials and weaponry were seized in a raid on the madrasa-cum-orphanage in the coastal district of Bhola.
The ADG said they would hand over the two suspects to Borhanuddin thana police in Bhola.
Col Rezanur, however, said they have not yet found any information about the involvement of the two persons in harbouring militants.
Faisal, a Bangladeshi-born British citizen, founded a UK-based controversial NGO under the name, Green Crescent, which allegedly channeled funds through a British charity to patronise militants.
The NGO constructed the madrasa-cum-orphanage on a vast 12-acre plot of land at Ramkeshob village of Borhanuddin Upazila in Bhola from where it conducted its activities.
On March 24, RAB men raided the madrasa and seized huge firearms, ammunition, grenades and bomb-making materials and a number of Jihadi books.
The elite crime-busters arrested four suspected militants -- Abul Kalam, Abdul Halim, Jasim and Moulana Mohammad Russell -- during the raid.
Later, during interrogation, Russell reportedly gave elaborate information about Faisal and Badal.
Following his information RAB personnel conducted the drive in Gazipur in the early hours of the day Monday and ran them in.