JMB’s Hollywood-style hold-up

Sunday, 10am: A compartmentalised prison van carrying three convicted members of outlawed Jam'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) comes under an audacious day-time ambush on a highway in Mymensingh’s Trishal Upazila.

In a Hollywood-style hold-up, a large group of armed miscreants open fire on the police, kill a Constable and snatch away three JMB convicts, two of them on death row.

Seated on the van’s front cabin are Sub-inspector Habibur Rahman and Constable Sohel Rana with Constable ‘Sabuj’ driving the van.

Constable Atiqul Islam is at the back of the van guarding the prisoners.

Suddenly, a truck and a black microbus burst in to block the van on both its front and rear, forcing it to screech to halt, according to SI Rahman.

Then bombs and bullets fly from the vehicle blocking the front of the van.

“Two bullets hit me after shattering the windscreen and I faint. I don’t remember what happened next,” says Rahman.

The driver said that masked men took away the car keys from him. “I ducked as soon as I heard shots were fired and so I was saved.”

The militants then hurled bombs at the rear of the police van, badly injuring Constable Islam.

The attackers then whisked away Salauddin Salehin alias Sunny, 38, Rakibul Hasan alias Hafez Mahmud, 35 and Jahidul Islam alias Boma Mizan, 38, after unshackling them.

Sunny and Mahmud were on death row and Mizan was serving life sentence for their involvement in the synchronised bomb attack across Bangladesh in Aug 17, 2005.

Local Union Parishad (UP) Member Shahjahan said he witnessed the incident in its entirety.

“Suddenly, I heard bullets being fired. Then I saw 10-15 men in black masks getting down from the microbus and hurling bombs at the police van.”

Shahjahan said he immediately informed the OC of Trishal Police Station about the incident, but the attackers had managed to get away with the convicts by the time police arrived on spot.

The UP member managed to send the injured policemen to the hospital.

Constable Islam succumbed to his wounds while being taken to the hospital, said Trishal Police OC Firoz Talukdar.

SI Rahman and Constable Rana were taken to the Mymensingh Medical College and Hospital.

The police went on high alert and boosted security in Mymensingh and the nearby districts as soon as the incident happened, said Mymensingh’s Additional Superintendent of Police Harun Ur Rashid.

Several intelligence agencies deployed its agents on ground and checkpoints were set up on the roads.

About an hour and a half after the hold-up, the police got the first lead of the fugitives at Tangail’s Sakhipur Upazila.

Around 11:30am, a black microbus rammed into the rear of an autorickshaw at the Sakhipur municipality, said Sakhipur Police Station’s OC Mokhlesur Rahman.

Locals got hold of the driver of the microbus, Md Zakaria, 28, though the others in the vehicle escaped. The police later recovered a pistol, five rounds of ammunition and six crude bombs from him.

“Zakaria alias Milon hails from Chapainawabganj. He had secured bail four years ago. There are charges against him of being involved with the JMB,” police’s DIG (Dhaka Range) SM Mahafuzul Haque Nuruzzaman told bdnews24.com.

“We have evidence that he was involved in (Sunday) morning’s attack,” he added.

Border outposts have been put on red alert to prevent the convicted JMB militants from fleeing the country.

Security has been increased at the prisons countrywide including Chittagong, Rajshahi where JMB militants are lodged.

Meanwhile, police announced Tk 200,000 as reward leading to the arrest of the JMB radicals, who were snatched away.

The first breakthrough came at 2:30pm at Tangail’s Mirzapur Upazila.

Locals detained two persons and handed them over to the police as they found them suspicious.

The duo was crossing through the Taktarchala of Mirzapur on foot, just 15 kilometres away from where the microbus rammed in to the autorickshaw.

Tangail’s acting Superintendent of Police Hasibul Alam said the detainees identified themselves as ‘Raihan’ and ‘Rasel’. After further questioning, the latter confessed that he was Rakibul Hasan alias Hafiz Mahmud, one of the three fugitives.

“Our suspicion grew as there were marks of shackles on his (Mahmud) throat, hands and feet that stood out in the freshly clean-shaven face,” said Alam.

‘Raihan’, hails from Mymesingh’s Muktagachha Upazila and is suspected to have been involved in the attack on police, he added.

The three JMB militants are named in a 2006 bomb-attack case filed under Muktagachha Police Station, said Inspector Shahid Forkan of Mymensingh’s Court Police.

They were being taken to the court at Mymensingh on Sunday for a hearing on that case, he added.

Jailor Abdul Quddus of Kashimpur Central Jail said that Sunny had been implicated in 40 cases and sentenced to death in three of those.

Sunny, who hails from Narayanganj, was arrested on Apr 25, 2006 from Chittagong’s Pahartali.

RAB had arrested JMB’s militant wing chief Jahidul Islam alias Boma Mizan in 2009 from Dhaka’s Agargaon, said RAB spokesperson Habibur Rahman.

An explosives specialist, Mizan hails from Jamalpur and is named in 19 cases. He was serving a 26-year jail term in the 2005 bomb attack at the Chittagong court.

Mahmud, who was nabbed four hours after the getaway, hails from Jamalpur. RAB had arrested him in 2006 from Dhaka’s Paltan.

He has been sentenced to death in one of the 30 cases against him, according to the Superintendent of Kashimpur High Security Jail Abdur Razzaque.

Mahmud has been sentenced to life in prison in three cases, 14 years in one and for seven years in another case, he added.

The JMB came to the limelight after launching a massive bomb attacks during the tenure of the 2001-06 BNP-Jamaat coalition government.

According to a report published by the US-based International Crisis Group (ICG), JMB gained strength after it was extensively used by the law-enforcing agencies to neutralise left-wing radicals like the Sarbahara Party and Red Flag communists in the western and south-western districts of Bangladesh between 2001 and 2006.

Only after the serial bombings on Aug 17, 2005, the then government cracked down on the JMB after much domestic and global outcry..

Its top boss Sayakh Abdur Rahman was arrested on Mar 2, 2006 at Sylhet. Four days later, another senior leader Siddikul Islam alias Bangla Bhai was picked up by RAB from Mymensingh.

Six JMB men including the two were executed on Mar 30, 2007 for the 2005 killing of two judges -- Sohel Ahmed Chowdhury and Jagannath Parhey in Jhalakathi.