No weapons or explosives have been found in the Rapid Action Battalion’s raid on a suspected terror hideout at Narsingdi.
Published : 21 May 2017, 11:28 AM
Five people, who were inside the one-storey house owned by an expatriate, were escorted out on Sunday morning.
The militants who escaped from Sylhet’s Atia Mahal were hiding inside the house at Gabtoli’s Chinispur Union in Narsingdi, the elite force claimed.
The RAB cordoned off the house on Saturday night and took relatives of the suspects inside on Sunday morning to “negotiate their surrender”.
The suspects were brought out one by one from around 10am to 11am and taken to the RAB-11 office.
“We have found some evidence linking these suspects with those who were at Atia Mahal,” said RAB spokesperson Mufti Mahmud Khan.
Four suspects were killed inside Atia Mahal, a residential building complex in Sylhet, following a para-commando raid in March.
“We are pretty much sure that some among these five suspects are linked to those terrorists. More details will emerge from the interrogation.”
The suspects have been identified as Abu Zafar of Narayanganj’s Araihazar, Salahuddin and Basikul Islam of Narsingdi Sadar, Masudur Rahman of Gazipur Boardbazar and Mashiur of Kishoreganj’s Bhairab.
“Our bomb disposal team didn’t find any visible weapon or explosive after searching the three rooms. We’ll try to get information by questioning the suspects,” Khan said.
The suspects speak
The house near Jamia Qasemia Kamil Madrasa is owned by Moinuddin, a Kuwait resident.
The house was rented out to three men on May 3, said Zakaria, a neighbour, who looks after the home in Moinuddin’s absence.
The men identified themselves as house tutors when they moved in, according to local residents.
Their family members started gathering outside the house after hearing about the raid.
The father and the brother of Masudur Rahman, a tenth-grade student at Jamia Qasemia Madrasa, reached the scene at 11pm.
Masud, a Dakhil student, came here to be ‘tutored’ by Salahuddin, one of the suspects.
“My son has no links to terrorism. Please bring him out alive. If he is a criminal, try him under the law,” Masud’s father Abdul Mazid told bdnews24.com during the raid.
As the raid continued, Masud spoke to bdnews24.com by phone. “I went there to study at 4pm. After half an hour, I heard a sound at the door. It was closed from outside.”
“I looked outside the window and saw police surrounding the house. I thought something happened outside for which the police locked us.”
“I continued to study for more than an hour. After Maghrib prayers, I saw more and more police gathering outside. We received calls saying they found militants here. But we don’t even know. Then I called home,” Masud said.
Abu Zafar, another inmate of the house, called the bdnews24.com correspondent, minutes after the conversation with Masud ended.
“Please get us out. We’ll accept all punishments if we have committed any crime,” he said.
Zafar claimed he is a nephew of a local leader of Awami Muktijoddha League, a ruling party affiliate. He also said he is a relative of Narayanganj MP Nazrul Islam Babu.
Zafar said he was a master’s student of math at Narsingdi Government College. He said he was also at the house to study.
Basikul Islam’s father Nurul Islam was also outside the house. He said his son was an accounting graduate from Narsingdi Government College. He was a tutor looking for a job. He lived in the house with Zafar, said Islam.
Salahuddin’s father Abdur Rahman is a madrasa teacher at Jamia Islamiah Madrasa at Narsingdi’s Shekherchar. He said his son was tutoring students while preparing for the civil service examinations.
“He comes home every week. He is not a militant. I came here after hearing about the raid,” he said.
RAB spokesperson Khan said the families of militants sometimes were not aware of their activities.
“It happened before. The terrorists who died at Holey Artisan café couldn’t believe what happened.”
He stressed that the raid was based on specific intelligence.