JMB terrorists plan to unleash ‘massive violence’ in Dhaka, police say

Police suspect operatives of banned Jamaa'tul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) have infiltrated into Dhaka City taking advantage of the current political unrest and are working to execute a “terror blueprint”.

The suspicions have aroused on information they managed to tease out during preliminary interrogation of four members of the terror outfit, who were caught with explosives during a raid on their Uttara hideout on Mar 27.

Dakkhin Khan Police Sub-Inspector Akhter Hossain told bdnews24.com on Monday, “They were planning to cause anarchy in various parts of the capital. For that purpose, they split into groups and rented houses in different parts of the city.”

“They were making bombs themselves in the rented houses with raw materials collected from outside Dhaka,” he said.

JMB Chapainawabganj chief Abdur Razzak Haider aka Mamun, 35, Naogaon chief Ziaul Bari aka Dalim, 32, Dinajpur chief Md Korban Ali aka Mohammad Ali aka Hanjala, 55, and Rangpur Finance Secretary Md Mofazzal Hossain, 22, were detained during the RAB raid.

RAB headquarters’ Assistant Director Maksudul Alam said they recovered a grenade, 34 non-electric detonators, 14 electric detonators, 30 metres of detonating cords, 2.5 kilograms of splinters, 500 grams of gun powder, 1 kg of plastic explosives, six large and 24 small crude hand bombs, 12 Molotov cocktails, 2 kilograms of marbles, 550 grams of sulphuric acid, a detonator box, a bundle of wires, weapons manual and large number of Jihadi books.

The police official added that the court on Saturday granted them six days to grill the arrestees.

“We are trying to find out how many of them are now in Dhaka, how they are arranging funds, whether they had any other plans.”

RAB spokesperson Mufti Mahmud Khan also admitted having knowledge of a JMB plan to cause disruption in the capital.

“We have intelligence reports that several JMB [top-tier] members are now camping in Dhaka with a large cache of bombs and explosives to execute their terror plan.”

The house that was raided belongs to Abdur Rouf, a former Bangladesh Biman official. He lived next door in an identical house with his wife Husne Ara Begum and three children.

Begum told bdnews24.com that the house was rented last month by one ‘Mamun’, who identified himself as an readymade garment businessman.