Police release photo of another Dhaka cafe attack ‘mastermind’

Police have released photo of another suspect who they believe was one of the masterminds behind the deadly Jul 1 attack on an upscale cafe in Dhaka’s Gulshan.

This youth had disseminated the photos and messages sent by the militants from inside the Holey Artisan Bakery at the heart of the diplomatic zone, according to DMP’s counter-terrorism unit chief Md Monirul Islam.

He says the youth is known as ‘Marzan’ in their organisation, but investigators do not have any more information on him at the moment.

“But we are trying to gather as much information as we can about him. We don’t have any details right now. But we’re using the photo to find him,” Monirul said at a press conference on Friday afternoon.

Marzan’s name come up after police identified two other suspects, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury and disgraced army Major Syed Md Ziaul Haque, as the masterminds of the deadly militant attacks in recent times.

Though Middle East-based terror group Islamic State reportedly claimed responsibility for the cafe attack, in which 22 people, mostly foreigners, were killed, security agencies have laid the blame on the banned militant group Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

According to police, Tamim leads a faction of the terror outfit called ‘Neo-JMB’ and Ziaul leads another banned group Ansarullah Bangla Team.

Police earlier this month had announced a Tk 2 million cash rewards on each of them for information leading to their arrest.

Additional Commissioner Monirul Islam on Friday said, “The five Gulshan attackers had come in two groups. They came from a house in Bashundhara (Residential Area) and up until a certain time, the main mastermind (Tamim) was with them to further motivate them.”

“Later, on behalf of him (Tamim), another organiser (Marzan) of the militants, another mastermind, communicated with them (the attackers). They had sent the photos to an ID (which Marzan accessed).
 
“We’ve found out what they said and sent while communicating with each other.”
 
Police believe Tamim masterminded the Jul 1 attack. He is also accused in a case initiated after a special raid by the security forces on Jul 26 killed nine militants at a house at Dhaka’s Kalyanpur.
 
Officials said the dead men, too, were JMB operatives.
 
Monirul said Marzan was a Bangladeshi. “We think he is currently staying in Dhaka.”
 
Investigators came to know about him after arresting and questioning five JMB militants in the capital’s Darussalam on Thursday night.
 
“We don’t know yet where he studied. We spoke to them (new arrestees) and those caught earlier. It appears that he (Marzan) is an educated youth,” said Monirul.
 
After a 12-hour-long seize by the attackers, army commandoes stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery and O’ Kitchen on Jul 2 morning to rescue hostages.
 
They shot dead six youths in the process before taking control of the establishment. Police later identified five of them as JMB members.
 
The sixth deceased was identified as the bakery’s chef Saiful Islam Chowkider. Police have accused him of ‘assisting the attackers’ in the case started over the attack.
 
About him, counter-terrorism unit chief Monirul said, “Five militants came from outside. Saiful worked in there (the bakery). We can’t say for sure whether he directly or indirectly communicated with the attackers until the investigation is complete.”
 
Meanwhile, DMP have released a report on suspect Marzan with his photo on its online news portal and urged anyone with information about him to come forward.