College teacher close to Dhaka cafe attacker arrested

DHAKA:  A college teacher, said to be close to one of the Islamist militants who carried out Bangladesh’ worst terror attack at a cafe here, has been arrested.

Milon Hossain, a teacher in Piyar Ali School and College who was close to Gulshan cafe attacker Shafiqul Islam Ujjal, was held on Saturday night at Ashulia here, police said.

Milon, who earlier worked at Madbar Memorial School in Ashulia, had helped Ujjal get a job as a teacher of the school, a police official was quoted as saying by the bdnews.

He was produced before a court that granted police five days to grill him in custody.

Ujjal, a madrassa student from Bogra, was among the five militants whose photographs were published by the Islamic State, which claimed the responsibility for July 1 attack that left at least 20 hostages, including an Indian, and two policemen dead.

He had left home six months before the attack, his family had said.

Ujjal had told them that he would go to Tabligh Jamaat’s ‘Chilla’, a 40-day travel from one mosque to another to attend lectures and call people to prayers. (AGENCIES)