Chattogram court jails JMB leader Ershad for 20 years in explosives case

A Chattogram court has sentenced Ershad Hossain alias Mamun, a leader of the banned militant outfit Jamaa'tul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), to 20 years in prison in an eight-year-old case against him under the Explosive Act.

Chittagong 4th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Shariful Alam Bhuiyan delivered the verdict on Tuesday. Three other suspects in the case have been acquitted as charges against them were not proven.

The convict, Ershad, is a resident of Dinajpur. He was the chief of JMB’s Chattogram district unit, according to the police.

“The charge was pressed against one person who was arrested at the scene during a police raid. The law enforcers conducted the raid based on information about the location of the JMB members. Bomb-making materials were seized during the raid,” the judge said while delivering the verdict.

“Ershad testified under Section 164 and confessed to his involvement in the crimes. He has also been fined Tk 20,000 and another one year will be added to his jail sentence if he fails to pay.”

The other suspects – Bulbul Ahmed Sarkar alias Fuad from Gaibandha, Md Sujon from Jhenaidah and Mahbubur Rahman alias Khokhn from Chattogram – were not present at the scene and no explosive materials were found in their possession, Bhuiyan added.

Earlier on Apr 11, the court set Tuesday for the announcement of the verdict in the case. The accused claimed their innocence during the hearing on that day.

“The law enforcers raided a house next to the NR Steel Mill near the port city’s Akbar Shah Police Station on Mar 23, 2015. Ershad was arrested during the raid and explosives, material for making bombs and Jihadi books were found in the house. The other suspects fled the scene,” said state counsel Md Noman Chowdhury, citing the case dossier.

Sub-Inspector Shahidur Rahman filed a case at Akbar Shah Police Station over the incident.

Three other suspects were detained during an operation against militants in the city’s Karnaphuli Police Station that same year. They were arrested in the explosives case afterwards.

SI Md Solaiman, the investigation officer of the case, pressed charges against the four in 2016. The court indicted them and started the trial in 2020.