Dhaka cafe attack: Police claim arrest of four ‘arms suppliers’

Police have claimed to arrest four persons, who ,they say, supplied arms and material for improvised explosive devices used in the Jul 1 Gulshan terror attack.

Dhaka metro police spokesperson Md Masudur Rahman said the arrests were made from the capital’s Darus Salam area late on Wednesday by the counterterrorism unit.
 
They have been identified as Md Abu Taher, 37, Mizanur Rahman, 34, Md Selim Mia, 45 and Toufiqul Islam alias Dr Toufiq, 32.
 
All of them belong to banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), said Deputy Commissioner Rahman.

“Almost 800 detonators and a 9mm pistol have been found during the raid,” he told bdnews24.com.

During initial investigation, the suspects confessed to smuggling weapons and explosives across the border near the northern district of Chapainawabganj, said the senior police officer.

“They supplied grenade detonators, gel and weapons smuggled across the Indian border used in the neo-JMB attacks across the country,” said Rahman.

Among those arrested, Mizanur Rahman was the JMB’s Chapainawabganj unit chief and went by the aliases ‘Barha Mizan’, ‘Chhoto Mizan’ and ‘Tara’, he added.

“We believe the detonators and weapons were brought in Dhaka for another attack,” he said.

The detainees confessed that ‘Small Mizan’ aka ‘Tara’ supplied weapons and explosives to Gulshan cafe attack mastermind Tamim Chowdhury and Nurul Islam alias Marzan.