The law enforcers raided the house of Mazharul Islam Masum, a suspected activist of the banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), at South Chhayabithi in Joydebpur, Gazipur, at 9:00pm and seized the explosives and ammonium nitrate.

The police raided Masum's house on information from Enayetullah Ujjal alias Jewel, arrested Monday morning with bomb materials. Jewel also admitted to the police to planning the Gazipur blasts and making the bombs.

Meanwhile, a team of foreign explosive experts yesterday visited the sites of explosion in Gazipur and examined the evidences.

EXPLOSIVES
The police arrested Masum, a class IX student of Chhayabithi Society High School, and his parents Hena Begum and Hemayet Uddin.

The white granular explosives were kept in nine separate plastic containers, each containing a kilogram, the police said.

Masum told the police that two months ago, Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activist Rafiq asked him to keep the containers, saying they contained fish-food.

The locals said Masum was close to Rafiq, who runs a fish project in the locality and is now in jail being accused in several cases, including for arms. Masum's classmates told this correspondent that Masum has been keeping himself isolated from them for the last couple of months.

Sub-Inspector Gazi Ruhul Amin of Gazipur Sadar Police Station filed two cases under the Explosive Substances Act in the two incidents of explosives recovery--one against Jewel, his wife Swapna, Selim Miah, Masum and his parents, and another against Jewel and his wife.

JEWEL'S CONFESSION
The police yesterday officially gave statement to the press disclosing some information Jewel provided in interrogation. The authorities, however, did not allow the press to interview him.

Superintendent of Police (SP) of Gazipur Atiqul Islam told the press that police on Monday morning recovered a flask from Jewel while he was fitting a bomb inside it, like the one that exploded in front of the DC office.

Among the seized equipment were also a drilling machine, a voltmeter, wires, knives, scissors, a wrench, a compass, a toy-car and pieces of iron used in fishing net.

Quoting Jewel, Atiqul told journalists that Jewel was one of the top JMB leaders and in-charge of the Dhaka-Tangail-Gazipur region. He had direct connection with JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman, who trained him bomb-making.

Jewel also admitted to making the two bombs blasted on the bar association premises and in front of the deputy commissioner's office in Gazipur on November 29 and December 1.

He said he handed over the bombs to the suicide bombers, observed the blasts from distance and then reported to his high commands. The police seized a mobile phone and three SIM cards from his possession.

About the explosives recovered from Masum's house, Jewel said the load was transported to Gazipur from Dhaka in paint containers. Jewel himself also had one of those one-kg containers and used around 80 gram explosives in each of the bombs blasted in Gazipur.

The SP, who received training on explosives in the US, told the press that around 150-160 bombs could have been made with that amount of explosives.

Jewel is an expert in bomb-making and each bomb he made was unique and different, he added.

Jewel also admitted to writing the leaflets found at the August 17 blast sites and sending threat letters to the local journalists and making threat phone calls to one of them.

He has lost regular contacts with his high-ups following the August 17 blasts, Atiqul Islam quoted Jewel as saying.

Our Tangail correspondent adds: Top JMB leader Jewel stayed at the house of his brother-in-law Shoeb, another JMB activist, in Balla area under Kalihati upazila in the district, for collecting members and training them.

The police said a big consignment of the bombs used in the JMB attacks in Tangail, Gazipur and Dhaka was supplied by Jewel.

FOREIGN EXPERTS IN GAZIPUR
The team of eight foreign explosive experts from Singapore visited the Gazipur blast sites yesterday noon at 12:45pm. They examined the evidences of the bomb blasts. They also had a meeting with the local police officials, sources said.

The local authorities, however, remained silent on the details of the foreign experts.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Abdul Quayyum last night told The Daily Star over phone that the team arrived on Monday night to examine the modes of bombs and explosives.

"They have come as a part of bilateral cooperation and will only examine the bombs," the IGP said.

This is the first time that any foreign experts went to the district following the August 17 countrywide blasts.

SYLHET EXPLOSIVES
UNB adds: In Sylhet, the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) also recovered huge explosive substances and devices from the border areas between Sylhet and Sunamganj Monday midnight.

Acting on a tip-off, a BDR patrol team raided Mathgaon in Doara Bazar of Sunamganj at about 7:30pm and recovered explosives, 10 detonators and a bag weighing five kilogram containing substance looking like salt.

In another drive in Sylhet on Monday night, the border guards recovered one bomb, three packets of high-powered explosives, four fuses and two detonators hidden in a jungle in Bhalpakmara village of Kanaighat frontier upazila.