Banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) receives tens of thousands of dollars from domestic and foreign sources, including some from Canada every month to run its operations.
A person called Mamun, who was involved in a fake currency racket in India, had been donating 50,000 takas ($722) every month to JMB fund until he was arrested; The Daily Star newspaper said quoting official sources.
The group’s activities have been on the wane following the arrest of its top brass, including its chief Moulana Saidur Rahman. But officials involved in the anti-militancy drive believe its network of financial support is still intact.
Around 3,000 JMB supporters living in Australia, Britain, Italy, Canada, Malaysia and in middle-east countries send in funds, according to a statement made to the investigators by Saidur Rahman.
The daily said it had obtained a copy of the statement.
The Bangladeshi – Canadian community is estimated at over 100,000.
The Canadian spy agency, CSIS has been monitoring the activities of JMB both in Canada and Bangladesh as far back as 2003.
A report prepared by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said that the government of Bangladesh was not doing enough to prevent the country from becoming a haven for Islamic terrorists in South Asia and expressed its concern over the activities of extremists suspected to be connected to al-Qaeda.
It said the government of Bangladesh was unwilling to crack down on terrorism and referred to the likelihood of dangers to Canadian aid agencies in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Foreign Office strongly denied the contents of the CSIS report.
Responding to the recent revelations, Gopal Sengupta from Canada wrote on a Bangaledshi news site; “it is imperative that the threat that the JMB now poses is contained before it assumes menacing proportions.”
The Daily Star in Dhaka said JMB was one of the militant outfits banned in 2005 by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s government after protests at home and threats of economic sanctions by the US, demanding curbing of activities of Islamist militant groups.
According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal, the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Party of the Mujahideen) aims at establishing the rule of Islam in Bangladesh through an armed struggle. The outfit is opposed to the establishment of democracy and calls for the conduct of government under Islamic law.
Espousing a radical variant of Islam, the outfit is opposed to cultural functions, cinema halls, shrines and NGOs.
One of the objectives of JMB is to free Muslims of the influence of ‘anti-Islam forces’ and practices that brought women out of their houses.
JMB initially had two main bases of recruitment: the network of mosques and schools associated with the Salafist organisation Ahle Hadith, and the youth wing of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, called Islamic Chatra Shabir [ICS]. Family networks were also important, with members drawing in their brothers, sons and nephews. Within the top leadership, arranged marriages with women from top JMB families were instrumental in cementing solidarity.
Investigators in Bangladesh estimated that over US$70,000 is being funneled every month to the terror outfit in the form of supporters’ monthly contributions, Zakat or tithes and donations.
The officers, however, could not say who handles the funds after the arrest of JMB leader Saidur in May. The JMB chief himself was in charge of its finance division.
Most of the overseas supporters of JMB belong to Ahle Hadith community, Saidur is said to have told investigators.
Recently,  Mamun, a person who was involved in fake currency business in India, had been donating Tk 50,000 every month to JMB fund until he was arrested.
Security and Defence analyst Prof Imtiaz Ahmed of Dhaka University International Relations department stressed the need for a big investment in research on militancy as militants, who earlier used different channels and money laundering to send money, are exploring new systems to get the job done.
Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan, director of Bangladesh’s intelligence wing, said the militancy funding is really a concern for them as they usually don’t know how militants are getting or spending the money.