After arresting five JMB operatives with explosives from Dhaka’s Darussalam area, police have said that the banned militant group brought these men into the capital from the country’s northern region to tackle the ‘manpower loss’ caused by the Jul 26 Kalyanpur raid.
Published : 12 Aug 2016, 02:40 PM
DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Yusuf Ali said the counter-terrorism unit nabbed the five from near the Technical intersection on Thursday night.
They are Atikur Rahman Atik, Abdul Karim Bulbul, Abul Kalam Azad, Md Matiur Rahman and Shahinur Rahman Himel.
Police said they found 875 grams of gel explosives and 25 detonators on the five.
At a press briefing on Friday noon, counter-terrorism unit chief and Additional Commissioner Md Monirul Islam said four other members of the JMB, or Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, had managed to flee as the five were being arrested.
The arrestees identified them as Nannu, Sajib, Imran and Gypsy, he said.
Islam said, “The JMB faced a crisis of operatives after nine militants were killed during the Kalyanpur raid. That’s why these new men have been brought to Dhaka.
“During primary interrogation, they said they were brought here to receive training.”
When asked whether these five were on the list of missing youths, he said, “They have told us that they left home several months ago. But we’ll be certain after crosschecking with the home addresses they have given us.”
The Rajshahi-based JMB, which first made the headlines during the period of the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami alliance government, was proscribed in February 2005.
But it returned to the spotlight by becoming a larger threat when it carried out synchronised bomb explosions in 63 of the 64 districts of Bangladesh in August that year.
Since then, the law-enforcing agencies with stern measures had cornered the militant organisation. But they now say the terror outfit had reorganised in the past two years and has been carrying out attacks and murders.
Police officials call this reorganised JMB the ‘Neo-JMB’. They have also blamed its operatives for the Jul 1 attack on a Gulshan cafe and the Jul 7 attack at Sholakia in Kishoreganj.
On Jul 26, nine militants were killed in a special raid by the security forces at a Kalyanpur house. Police said the dead men were JMB members too.
To a question of why they were being called the Neo-JMB, Monirul Islam said, “If you have followed our past briefings, you will remember that we have been saying that JMB has split in two.
“Most of them had begun following Maula Saidur Rahman, but another group separated from them. This group is the Neo-JMB.”
He said police had gathered much information regarding the militants after raiding at least 10 more houses, apart from the one at Kalyanpur, in different areas of the city following the Gulshan attack.
According to Islam, police have confirmed that a youth named ‘Marzan’ (organisational name) had disseminated the photos and messages sent by the Gulshan cafe attackers.
“He is currently staying in Dhaka. He seems like an educated youth. Our detectives have a photo of him.”
The additional commissioner said police suspect that Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury and Syed Md Ziaul Haque, the suspected masterminds of the deadly militant attacks in recent times, are also now in Dhaka.
“We are trying to pinpoint their location and have sought help for this from others (security agencies). We have also announced Tk 2 million rewards on each of them for information leading to their arrest.”
Police say that dismissed army Major Ziaul was one of the conspirators of a 2012 coup bid aimed at toppling the Hasina government. The attempt was foiled by the military.
A Reuters report in June this year also quoted counter-terrorism unit chief Monirul Islam as saying the authorities suspect Ziaul might be involved with the banned militant outfit Ansar Al Islam.
International media reports, citing several Islamic State publications, have described Canadian-Bangladeshi Tamim as the coordinator of the Middle East-based terror group’s Bangladesh chapter.
Earlier this month, Bangladesh Police announced the cash rewards for the two after identifying them as the ‘masterminds’ of the recent terror attacks.