Police have arrested the wife of Md Zakaria, driver of the microbus which carried the three fugitive JMB militants after they were snatched away from a prison van in Mymensingh.
Published : 23 Feb 2014, 11:09 PM
Zakaria was arrested with the vehicle at Tangail’s Sakhipur hours after the filmy-style hold-up at Mymensingh’s Trishal.
Based on the information he gave, ‘Swapna’, 23, was nabbed from a house at Sikdarparha at Tongi’s Gazipura, said Tongi Model Police Station Sub-Inspector Md Alamgir Gazi.
He told bdnew24.com that a raid around 3pm had netted Zakaria’s wife.
“Some Jihadi books, a laptop, a modem, USB flash drive, a Dutch-Bangla Bank ATM card, five mobile phones, blue books of two cars were also found on her and seized.”
She has been handed over to Dhaka Metropolitan Police for questioning in the Joint Interrogation Cell, SI Gazi said.
Around 10am, a large group of masked gunmen had intercepted the prison van carrying the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants, opened fire on police, killed a policeman, and snatched away the convicts in Mymensingh’s Trishal Upazila.
Of them, Salauddin Salehin alias Sunny and Raqibul Hasan were death row convicts and Jahidul Islam alias Bomaru Mizan was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Hours later, Raqibul was arrested from Tangail. One ‘Raihan’ who was with him at the time, was also held, police said.
Including Swapna, three people have been arrested so far.
Meanwhile, the government has launched investigations into Sunday’s incident.
Two committees have been constituted - the first by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the other by the police - and ordered to submit their findings in three days.
Two members of Gazipur police have been taken to task for negligence of duty. Gazipur Superintendent of Police Md Abdul Baten said Subedar Abdul Karim was suspended and Reserve Inspector Syedul Karim withdrawn from duty.
Border outposts in Bangladesh, however, have been put on red alert to prevent the fleeing militants by crossing over to India.
A massive manhunt is currently underway and the authorities have declared a bounty of Tk 200,000 for information on each of the fugitives.