Dhaka, July 6 (IANS) At least six members of Fatah Combat System (FCS), including its chief instructor Shah Amanat Sabir, were arrested in Bangladesh, with investigators alleging that the group was undergoing training to facilitate the activities of an extremist organisation, local media reported.

According to officials of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), the arrests were made on Sunday from a sand field in the Konapara area of Jatrabari in the capital.

DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media and Public Relations) Niaz Mehdi said that the six FCS members were initially detained before being shown arrested under Bangladesh’s Code of Criminal Procedure. While police requested a seven-day remand, the court granted only three days, Bangladeshi media outlet ‘Dhaka Stream’ reported.

A senior official of Bangladesh’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit said that the suspects are currently being held in CTTC custody.

Following the arrests, the FCS in a social media post called for the release of those detained. A comment posted beneath it which briefly appeared urged “all Al-Qaeda and IS supporters” to assemble outside the police station.

The arrests followed allegations by journalist Zulqarnain Sayer, a contract member of an investigative team with an international media outlet, who recently claimed in a social media post that Shah Amanat Sabir and FCS were providing training to extremists through an extensive network and maintaining ties with militants returning from Afghanistan.

Sayer also accused the group of using a housing project funded by a charitable organisation as a cover to recruit members for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and establish a Bangladesh-based outfit modelled on the Pakistani militant group, Dhaka Stream reported.

Citing information, the Bangladeshi newspaper ‘Blitz’ recently reported that the FCS has been operating in several districts across Bangladesh under the guise of a self-defence and martial arts institution.

“Publicly, it advertises discipline, fitness, confidence, and practical combat skills. Privately, it is accused of something darker: ideological screening, digital radicalisation, recruitment pipelines, and links to transnational jihadist movements. If true, this is not merely a law-enforcement issue. It is a national security warning,” the report noted.

“The allegation that FCS presents itself as a faith-conscious martial arts network while quietly circulating propaganda from groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Hamas, and Al-Qaeda affiliates follows a familiar global pattern: use respectable institutions to identify vulnerable recruits. The method matters as much as the message,” it warned.

–IANS

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