Dhaka Attack Suspect Takes 2 Extremists to Japan in 2014

Dhaka, July 28 (Jiji Press)--A man among a list of suspects issued by the Bangladeshi police in connection with the recent terror attack in Dhaka took two extremists from Bangladesh to Japan in 2014, sources familiar with the investigation told Jiji Press on Thursday. If the two later became members of Islamic State, this means that Japan was used as a stopping point to send fighters to the militant group. According to the sources, Mohammad Saifullah Ozaki, who was an associate professor at Ritsumeikan University in the western Japan city of Kyoto, sent the two extremists to Turkey after bringing them into Japan. Ozaki, who has been missing, is suspected of having links to an Islamic State branch in Bangladesh, raising funds and recruiting members for the group. The group claimed responsibility for the attack in which seven Japanese were among 20 hostages who were killed. Ozaki entered Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in the southwestern Japan city of Beppu as an international student in 2002 and completed a doctorate course in 2011. Born into a Hindu family, he converted to Islam after the first couple of years of living in Japan. He started teaching business at the College of International Relations at Ritsumeikan last year, but was fired after his absence without notice came to light in January. END