Militant suspects ‘posed as relatives’ to rent Sitakunda flat

The owners of a building that housed a militant den at Sitakunda said two men rented the flat claiming to be relatives.

The police raid on the Chhayaneer building at Premtala ended with the death of four militants including women on early Thursday.

After a 19-hour stand-off, two suspects died in a suicide blast. The remaining two were killed in gunfire.

Police said the suspects were members of the revived Jama’atul Islam Mujahideen (JMB) or Neo-JMB.

Bomb disposal teams were working to diffuse the explosives the suspects had stored inside the flat, said Safikul Islam, deputy inspector general of police at Chittagong range.

The suspects had rented a flat on the ground floor of the building owned by one Rehana Begum. There are four units on each levels of the two-storey building.  

The landlady lived with her youngest son ‘Nasir’ on one of the flats on the upper storey.

Rehana Begum and Nasir were being questioned at Sitakunda Police Station.

Rehana’s elder son Md Mohiuddin said he lived in Chittagong. He visited Sitakunda only during vacations and was not there when police raided the house.

Two men rented a flat in their building around two months ago, he said. The monthly rent was for Tk 6,000.

They said they were brother-in-laws and owned a rubber business at Cox’s Bazar’s Ramu.

“One of them looked 40, the other seemed like he was 30. They said they were expanding their business to Sitakunda.”

Mohiuddin could not name the two. He said his mother usually dealt with the tenants.   

“They said they would stay in the house with their wives. My mother took copies of two of their national IDs.

“One was a little blurry so she asked them to give her their passport-sized photos. They were also told not to bring goods from their business to the house.”  

Police began their raid on the Chhayaneer building at Premtala based on information divulged by a couple they arrested from another militant den at Namar Bazar, the neighbouring ward.

‘Jashim’ and ‘Arjina’, alleged members of the Neo-JMB, were arrested after their landlord of their building ‘Sadhan Kutir’ found out Jashim’s national ID was a fake.

Jashim had told landlord Subhas Chandra Das that he was a cloth trader and two of his brothers will be living with him.