Bangladesh police expects much from arrested Neo-JMB leader 'Rajib Gandhi', one of the cafe attack 'masterminds'

Bangladesh police is expecting much information from an arrested terrorist, who is said to be one of the masterminds of the Dhaka cafe attack.

Jahangir Alam, who used the alias 'Rajib Gandhi', was arrested late on Friday from Tangail, some 100 kilometres northwest from capital Dhaka.

Investigators said they hope the latest arrest will yield significant information about militant outfit 'Neo-JMB', a splinter group of banned Islamist group Jamaa'tul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

He was produced before a Dhaka court on Saturday when police secured eight days to quiz him in custody.

Jahangir had been identified by police as one of the masterminds of the attack on the Gulshan cafe last year along with Tamim Chowdhury, former Bangladesh Army major Jahidul Islam, Tanvir Qaderi and Nurul Islam Marzan.

Tamim, Jahidul, Tanvir and Marzan have been killed in raids with security forces in the last few months.

Police had said the name 'Rajib Gandhi' came up during investigations and it was found that he served the Neo-JMB as its chief for the Northern districts.

He used to go by several other aliases like 'Subhas', 'Shanto', 'Tiger', 'Adil' and 'Jahid', Dhake metri police's Counterterrorism Unit chief Monirul Islam told the media on Saturday.

Jahangir was a 'key accomplice' of top Neo-JMB leader Tamim, he said. "He admitted during initial interrogation that he was directly involved in planning the Gulshan (cafe) attack with Tamim Chowdury and Nurul Islam Marzan."

Speaking at a press conference, he said that information gleaned from Jahangir will play a key role in investigating the recent terror attacks in Bangladesh.

Police had been saying that they were on the trail of ‘Rajib Gandhi’ and Basaruzzaman alias Chocolate, after the deaths of Tamim, Jahidul, Tanvir and Marzan.

On Saturday, it said they have information on three more 'masterminds of the attack.'

"One of them is Basharuzzaman alias Chocolate. Identities of the other two cannot be revealed now," counterterrorism police chief Islam said.

Gunmen barged into the 'Holey Artisan Bakery and O' Kitchen' on the night of Jul 1 and killed 20 persons inside, including 17 foreigners. File photo

Police said Jahangir, who was arrested on Friday, is son of Osman Gani Mandal and Rahela Mandal from the northern district of Gaibandha.

Islam said that Jahangir was an associate of senior JMB leader Nazrul Islam in 2004.

For 'Rajib', terror activities began at home

The JMB hit the limelight by carrying out synchronized bomb explosions in 63 of Bangladesh's 64 districts in August 2005, months after the government banned the outfit.

Police said Jahangir worked as the cook of JMB's Bogra unit chief Abdul Awal in 2005.

Monirul Islam told Saturday's press briefing Jahangir was in Dhaka during the Gulshan cafe attack on July 1 last year, when 22 people, including 17 foreigners and two police officers were killed.

"He was lodged in an apartment in the Basundhara Residential Area for a week, where he gave the final briefing to the five attackers. Later, he moved to Mirpur," he said.

It was Jahangir, who had recruited two of the cafe killers -- Md Khairul Islam alias Payel alias Badhan and Md Shafiqul Islam Ujjal alias Bikash -- and sent them to Dhaka from Gaibandha, said Islam.

He said that the Jul 7 attack on police at Kishoreganj's Sholakia Eidgah grounds was an attempt to create fear among law enforcers.

Jahangir left Dhaka when his picture fell in police hands after a raid on a militant hideout in the capital's Kalyanpur neighbourhood, where nine suspected terrorists were gunned down, Monirul Islam said.

Police said on Saturday that Jahangir is a suspect in 22 cases of murder and attempted murders. That includes the killings of a Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi in Rangpur, Hindu tailor in Tangail, Pabna Hindu Ashram inmate Nityaranjan Pandey, homeopath Sanwar Hossain in Kushtia, Panchagarh Hindu priest Jagneshwar Roy and Rajshahi University teacher Rezaul Karim Siddiquee.

Jahangir has been already charged with the March 2016 murder of a 1971 Bangladesh War veteran, who had converted to Christianity.