On July 12, 2026, a Dhaka court granted a three-day remand to seven people – Shah Amanat Sabir, Mohammad Hossain Tanim, Mohammad Junayed, Ataullah Shah, Mohammad Abidur Rahman, Mohammad Biojit, and Mohammad Tahsin Islam aka Sultan aka Musanna – arrested on charges of involvement in extremist activities under the guise of martial arts training in the Jatrabari area of Dhaka. State lawyer Shamsuddoha Sumon stated that the Police had applied to the court for a seven-day remand of the accused in this case under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
A day earlier, on July 11, 2026, Jatrabari Police Station Sub-Inspector (SI) AB Siddiqui filed a case against 16 people – Sabir, Tanim, Mohammad Junaid, Ataullah Shah, Mohammad Abidur Rahman, Mohammad Bayozit, Tahsin Islam aka Sultan Musanna, Abu Osama Faisal, Walid Abdullah aka Abul Bashar, Masud, Mohammad Ibrahim, Mahfuzur Rahman, Abu Sufian, Hedayat, Ramzan and Biplob – under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009 (Amended 2013). In the remand application, the Police disclosed that, during interrogation, the arrestees had given details about an organisation called the Sabir Bhaiyer Jamaat (SBJ, Sabir Brothers Group). According to them, the group used to recruit members and conduct extremist activities under the guise of teaching martial arts through a Facebook page called Fatah Combat System (FCS). The Police also claimed that the members used to communicate with each other under pseudonyms using Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Telegram.
The investigation stems from the July 5, 2026, arrest of six men identified as Khulna-based FCS chief instructor Shah Amanat Sabir; Hossain Tanim; Junaid; Joint Member Secretary of the National Citizens Party (NCP)’s Gazipur metropolitan unit, Ataullah Shah; Abidur Rahman and Bayojit; from Jatrabari, Dhaka. According to reports on July 8, 2026, investigators stated that they found a two-minute-23-second clip showing explosions on a rural road at night, militant-style slogans, and Sabir issuing threats while holding a sharp weapon. An Arabic song linked to Islamic State (IS) propaganda was used in the background. Police later claimed Sabir admitted during questioning that he was the person in the footage and that the video had been recorded to create panic, and that Sabir had formed SBJ, with 13 to 15 members, adopting the title Ameer-e-Mujahid. An unnamed official stated that Sabir had approached leaders of banned outfits Ansar Al Islam and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), but formed his own group after disagreements over ideology and strategy. Later, on July 9, 2026, Jessore DB Police arrested a young man, Tahsin Islam (19), from his home in Kismat Noapara area of Sadar Upazila (Sub-District) in Jessore District, on charges of involvement in extremism linked with FCS.
According to the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) department’s preliminary findings, FCS formally launched its activities in February 2026 under the guise of a martial arts organisation, establishing founding branches in Khulna, Jashore Sadar, Abhaynagar, Siddhirpasha, Sutarkhali and Chandpur. The Police disclosed that the FCS Dhaka branch began operations on July 4, 2026. Investigators alleged that the group sought to undermine the country’s sovereignty, obstruct state development activities and establish a Shariah-based system. The FIR also alleged that Sabir operated the FCS Facebook page, which served as a platform for extremist recruitment under the guise of martial arts training, and described itself as the first “Shirk-free, Kufr-free, music-free and fully Shariah-compliant Islamic martial art.”
While presenting itself as an Islamic martial arts network, FCS quietly circulated propaganda from groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Hamas, and Al-Qaeda affiliates, according to an April 30, 2026, report. Journalist Zulqarnain Sayer, a contract member of an investigative team at Al Jazeera, had earlier alleged that, before the actual arrests linked with FCS, Sabir and FCS had been providing training to extremists through an extensive network and maintaining links with militants who had returned from Afghanistan. Sayer also alleged that the group was attempting to recruit members for TTP and establish a Bangladesh-based organisation inspired by it.
At a May 24, 2026, press conference in Khulna, FCS denied all the allegations regarding extremism, and Sabir maintained that the organisation merely promoted martial arts based on Islamic values. However, the arrest of an NCP functionary, the subsequent expulsion of Ataullah Shah by the party on July 7, 2026, and the expanding CTTC investigation have transformed FCS from a dubious martial arts organisation into an emerging extremist formation in Bangladesh.
