The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has detained six members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) including one of its commanders in raids on a remote hill in the Shamlapur area under Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar.
RAB also recovered seven firearms, bullets and cash in the raids carried out from late Friday till early Saturday.
A team of Rab-15 and the intelligence wing of Rab headquarters conducted a raid at a remote hill in Shamlapur area under Teknaf upazila last (Friday) night and made the arrest, said Khandaker Al Moin, Rab's legal and media wing director, while briefing media in Cox's Bazar on Saturday.
They arrested Hafiz Nur Mohammad, 28, a top commander of ARSA's armed group, along with firearms, the Rab official said.
Following Hafiz's information, five more ARSA members were arrested in Shamlapur and Baharchara areas with arms and ammunition, he added.
All of the arrestees are top leaders and active members of ARSA, Moin said.
The other arrestees are Hossain Johor, 30 and Md Faruq, 23 of camp 15, Monir Ahmed, 36, Noor Islam, 29 and Md Yasin 21 of camp 16, Rab said.
Hafiz led a criminal gang comprising 30/35 members and committed crimes including murder, rape, abduction and extorsion in Kutupalang camp and its adjacent areas.
The arrestees smuggled arms from the neighbouring country through remote bordering areas and used to supply those to local criminal groups, Moin said.
The ARSA members used to extort locals with threats of murder and abduction. If their demands were not met, they abducted people or even killed them and hid the bodies in the hills, he added.
Hafiz joined ARSA in 2016 as a section commander and maintained contacts with with Ostad Khaled, the chief of ARSA military wing, he added.
He came to Bangladesh in 2017 and initially took over the responsibility as a head community leader of camp-8, and gradually became one of the top military commanders of ARSA at Kutupalang camp, he said.
