Prison authorities find no evidence that IS-inspired cap was supplied inside jail

A committee formed by the prison authorities to investigate how two Dhaka cafe attack convicts got hold of a cap with the Islamic State insignia has found no evidence that it was supplied inside the jail.

The three-member panel headed by Abrar Hossain, a deputy inspector general of prisons, submitted its report to IG Prisons AKM Mustafa Kamal Pasha on Saturday.

After the incident during the pronouncement of the verdict in the case on Wednesday, the committee was given five days to complete its task.

“We’ve found no evidence that the cap was supplied in jail. No negligence of the prison authorities was found,” DIG Prisons Tipu Sultan, a member of the committee, told bdnews24.com. “We’ve investigated all the related issues with importance.”

Assistant IG of Prisons Amirul Islam was the other member of the committee.

On Wednesday, an anti-terrorism tribunal in Dhaka sentenced seven militants to death for masterminding the 2016 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan, training the attackers and supplying arms and explosives for the attack.

The terrorists killed 20 diners, including 17 foreigners, and two police officers in the attack that sent shockwaves across the world. Two employees of the eatery also died in the incident.

Middle East-based radical group the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack immediately, but the government and police blamed home-grown militants of a revived faction of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or Neo-JMB.   

The seven convicted of the attack are Aslam Hossain Sarder alias Rash, Jahangir Hossain alias Rajib Gandhi, Hadisur Rahman, Rakibul Hasan Regan, Mamunur Rashid Ripon, Shariful Islam Khaled, and Abdus Sabur Khan alias Soheil Mahfuz.

Another suspect, Mizanur Rahman, was acquitted as the charges against him could not be proved.

Soheil Mahfuz was seen wearing a white cap while the militants were escorted to the tribunal from Dhaka Central Jail in Gazipur’s Kashimpur. The others, including Regan and Jahangir, did not wear any cap at the time.

After the convicts were being taken to the courtroom from the prison facilities of the tribunal, Regan was seen in a dark cap with no visible inscription on it.

When the judge pronounced the verdict, the Islamic State’s insignia was visible on Regan’s dark cap. A similar cap was seen on Jahangir’s head inside the prison van later.

Journalists who were covering the verdict believe Regan was wearing the cap inside-out when he was being taken to the courtroom and turned it the other way round during the verdict.

Jahangir used the same cap inside the prison van, the journalists believe.

Defence lawyer Delwar Hossain said the accused had stayed in police custody for a long time. “I should not comment on what they were wearing. It’s an issue that belongs to the police.”

Counterterrorism police chief Monirul Islam said the caps could be inspired by the neo-JMB, not the Islamic State.