College teacher close to Dhaka cafe attacker arrested

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

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

Bangladeshi policemen walk near a banner that reads "We stand with the bereaved" in a street near an upscale restaurant which was the site of a bloody siege that ended in the death of 20 hostages, in Dhaka on July 5, 2016. (AFP File Photo)

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, 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 question 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.