Officials of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on March 6 said that Ansar Al Islam is regrouping by stealth, reports The Daily Star. Apart from making recruitments through online platforms, including Facebook, it is targeting the needy even non-Muslim and transgender people, who would not ever come under suspicion of joining militancy. Officials said the organisational activities of Ansar al-Islam appear strongest in Dhaka and Chattogram. It also has bases in Satkhira and Kushtia. It has undertaken some projects in Dinajpur, Netrakona, Jamalpur, Madhupur and Tangail targeting marginalised and ultra-poor communities, providing them with cash and other supports. Ansar al-Islam has also got a new spiritual leader who goes by the name of Sheikh Tamim Al Adnani. A former madrasa teacher, he is now responsible for reorganising the outfit, said an official of CTTC. Sheikh Tamim's sermons are published in different platforms to draw potential militants, he added. The outfit continues to get financial support from abroad and some businessmen in the country, according to documents obtained by the CTTC officials. A high official said that the outfit has investment in agro sector, book publishing, e-commerce, clothe stores, and IT firms. Police have traced a number of financial transactions involving Ansar al-Islam and found that it received around $900 to $1,100 from abroad through PayPal on several occasions. Ansar al-Islam now has around 700 to 800 active members and at least 274 of them are sleeper cell members, they added. The organisation has at least 56 sleeper cells. A sleeper cell is made of three to four full members. In every cell, a chief gets appointed to coordinate activities of those three or four full members. Only the sleeper cell chiefs are connected with each other and they can communicate up to the section chief. The sleeper cell members remain ignorant about each other's identity and they only receive instruction from their chief. Similarly, a "cluster" is made of three to four sections. A cluster leader is officially called IDN chief. IDN means Izaratul Dawah Wal Nusrah. The section chiefs only have access to the IDN chief and not beyond that. When someone is targeted for killing, information about the person is collected through the intelligence wing and finally the top leadership gives directives to the IDN chief, who finally executes the plan through a sleeper cell, said officials.