Narinjara News, 19 March 2025 

According to Bangladeshi media, Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi, 48, the head of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) terrorist organization, was apprehended along with 9 others in Narayanganj, approximately 16 kilometers southeast of Dhaka. 

As reported by The Daily Star, the Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) conducted the arrests as part of a special operation. 

Those detained alongside Ataullah included Mostak Ahmed, 66; Salimullah, 27; Asmatullah, 24; Md Hasan, 43; and Moniruzzaman, 26.

Along with the six, four more individuals—comprising three females and a minor—were likewise apprehended. These four were involved in two distinct cases, and the court later imprisoned them. 

According to intelligence, a RAB-11 team carried out operations in the Siddhirganj area of Narayanganj and Natun Bazar in Mymensingh on March 16, apprehending ten people, stated AHM Sazzad Hossain, the officer in charge of Rab-11.

According to Shahinur Alam, the officer-in-charge of Siddhirganj Police Station, RAB confiscated Tk 21.39 lakh in cash, a knife, a sharp steel chain, and four wristwatches from them.

An initial information report (FIR) submitted to Siddhirganj Police Station indicated that the detainees had convened in the area and conducted clandestine meetings to strategize subversive actions and serious offenses. 

After their apprehension, Ataullah and five others appeared in front of the Senior Judicial Magistrate Court of Narayanganj on March 18, where the case was addressed. 

Following the hearing, the court approved a total of 10 days of remand: five days for each of the two distinct cases—one for unlawful entry and another for criminal actions, stated Kayum Khan, the investigating officer. 

Ataullah and the ARSA militant group gained significant attention after assaulting nearly 30 police and military installations in the early morning of August 25, 2017. The assaults triggered a severe military response, leading approximately 740,000 Rohingya refugees to escape to Bangladesh. 

Following their escape to the overcrowded camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf located in Cox’s Bazar, ARSA militants have persisted in executing targeted assassinations within the camps under the leadership of Ataullah. 

Following the 2017 migration, many Rohingyas have been slaughtered by ARSA insurgents. 

The Daily Star additionally stated that ARSA has engaged in criminal acts such as murder, smuggling, kidnapping, trafficking, and extortion within the refugee camps. 

Numerous actions taken by the militant group have focused on hindering the Rohingya repatriation process back to Myanmar. 

ARSA attracted significant attention after the murder of Rohingya rights advocate Mohib Ullah at the Kutupalong camp. 

Mohib Ullah, chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, who supported the return of refugees, was killed by gunfire on September 29, 2022.

Right after the murder, Mohib's sibling, Habib Ullah, stated that ARSA, referred to locally as Al-Yakin, was responsible for the killing. 

While Ataullah dismissed ARSA's connection to Mohib Ullah's murder, a former senior ARSA commander disclosed that the organization's leadership had conversed about the killing, as per a report by the rights organization Fortify Rights, released yesterday. 

“Bangladesh needs to work together with the International Crimes Tribunal and transfer Ataullah to the court for investigation and accountability regarding international crimes,” stated John Quinley, Director of Fortify Rights, during an interview with The Daily Star. 

Ataullah is a plague on the Rohingya community. 

"He is in charge of monitoring extensive abuses against civilians. Bangladesh took the correct action by apprehending Ataullah. This is a significant day for Rohingya refugees in Myanmar and Bangladesh," he remarked. 

Furthermore, on November 23, 2022, Ataullah, the commander-in-chief of ARSA, was identified as the main suspect in the case concerning the murder of a DGFI officer close to the Tumbru border in Naikkhangchhari, Bandarban, on November 14 of that year. 

Bangladesh Air Force Squadron Leader Rizwan Rushdee, assigned to the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), lost his life in a confrontation with drug traffickers close to the Tumbru border. Rab official Sohel Barua sustained injuries in the incident. 

Mohammad Anwar Hossain, a field officer of DGFI in Cox's Bazar, subsequently filed a case at Naikkhangchhari Police Station.