Ex-HuJI leader Mufti Abdul Hai has been hiding for 16-yr: RAB

Mufti Abdul Hai, a former ameer and founding member of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), went into hiding after the banned militant outfit's involvement in various militant attacks came to light in 2006, said Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

Abdul Hai's hometown is Cumilla but his family has been living in Narayanganj for a long time, said RAB's Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Khandaker Al Moin at a press conference in Karwan Bazar of the capital on Thursday after arresting the HuJI leader from Narayanganj's Fatullah area on Wednesday.

RAB Commander Moin said Abdul Hai worked at his father-in-law's shop in Cumilla's Gauripur from 2006 to 2009 to dodge law enforcers.

Later, he managed to collect a voter card from Narayanganj and started renting houses in different areas of Narayanganj city, the RAB official said.

The arrestee is a fugitive death-row convict in the cases of Ramna Batamul bombing and attempted murder of Sheikh Hasina by planting a 76 kg bomb at Kotalipara in Gopalganj, Moin said, adding that Mufti Hai was accused in 13 cases and is facing seven arrest warrants.

Mufti Hai went to India illegally in 1981 to study at The Darul Uloom Deoband madrasa. In 1985, he return to Bangladesh.

Later in 1989, he went to Afghanistan to get training on firearms use. He returned to the country in 1991 and started campaigning for Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami.

Abdul Hai launched a militant training camp at a madrasa in Cox's Bazar's Ukhia upazila in 1992.

In 1996, law enforcers in a drive arrested 41 militants from the camp. But Hai managed to flee the scene. Later he got involved in various militant attacks including the Ramna Batamul bombing that killed 10 people and injured dozens.