Thread by @tasneem

One of those WTH moments. When I first saw this photo this morning, my jaw dropped. One of the top al-Qaeda/Ansar al-Islam ideologues in #Bangladesh, visiting a #Rohingya refugee camp, in broad daylight 🤨 And posting about it on Facebook 🤪

So this is Maulana Muhammad Ishak Khan, an AQIS/Ansar leader whom I interviewed once and had correspondence with on and off. Khan is the Bengali translator and publisher of Anwar al-Awalaki's lectures. He is also a top lieutenant of Jasimuddin Rahmani.

My interview with Khan was focused on Bangladeshi followers of Awlaki. That was back in 2016. He was (most likely) hiding in Malaysia then, and touring through the region, hosted by the jihadis there. Here is Khan somewhere in Indonesia

I lost contact with him some time in 2017, until I heard he was back to Bangladesh. I assumed he would be arrested. I asked a CTTC officer about Khan and was told they had know idea where Ishak Khan is 🤷‍♂️ Though someone told me he was raising money to start a madrasa.

Turns out that tip was spot on! Khan did start a madrasa near Dhaka, in Manikganj *and* was taking regular trips to the Rohingya refugee camps. Here is a photo of him with Rohingya children. This was in February, just months back!

Another from June, as in last month. If you don't read Bangla, you need to learn the language just to appreciate the bizarre, baffling context.

Prothom Alo says Khan was going to the refugee camps to indoctrinate and incite the Rohingyas, Well, duh?! How on earth the zillions of intelligence officers swarming in the area missed it? 🙆‍♂️

prothomalo.com/bangladesh/art…জঙ্গিবাদে-উদ্বুদ্ধ-করতে-কক্সবাজারের-রোহিঙ্গা

So, after *all these months* and after moving around freely across the country Maulana Muhammad Ishak Khan has been arrested by RAB 3 on July 10/11. One of my sources claim he was picked up by DB and then handed over to RAB.

I am definitely going to keep an eye on how this story unfolds further. Meanwhile, check out the books published and marketed by Khan 📚 //