The elite anti-crime forces also held two people at Badda and another at Narsingdi in this connection.

The recovered items include 34 kilograms of power-gel packed in 68 packets (each containing 500gm), 40 improvised iron casings for making grenades, four kilograms of ammonium nitrate in eight packets (each containing 500gm) and a book on jihad.

The arrestees are Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil Ullah alias Shaikat, 24, son of Ohiduzzaman, Hassan Ali alias Hridoy, 17, son of Badsha Miah, and Shoyeb alias Jahir, 25, son of Nuruzzaman.

Ibrahim hails from Kandail in Narsingdi district while the rest two are from Dhangora and Bolla of Kalihati upazila in Tangail.

A Rab press release yesterday said a team of its intelligence wing raided Ibrahim's village and arrested him around 9:00pm on January 9.

Following his lead, a Rab team around 4:00am yesterday raided a house at Nurer Chala area of Badda in the capital where they arrested the other two.

Meanwhile, our Tangail correspondent reports that Shoyeb is a charge-sheeted accused in two cases filed with Kalihati and Tangail police stations in connection with the August 17, 2004 serial bomb blasts in Tangail.

Shoyeb, who is also involved with Ahle Hadith Andolan, had coordinated the blasts in the capital on August 17, intelligence sources said. He recruited a number of JMB activists from his village Bolla and its adjacent areas and they had their militant training at his house, the sources added.

Rab claimed the series of recoveries they had been able to make during the last few days follows the arrest of Abdul Rahman Alal alias Fahad and Saiful Islam alias Russell. Police captured them with huge amount of arms, ammunition and detonators at a bus on Ramna Bypass in Tangail on December 29.

Following information from Fahad, Rab on December 30 recovered bomb-making materials from Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj. Rab, on January 7, busted several JMB hideouts in Narayanganj and recovered 80 improvised iron casings for making grenades, 31 packs (each weighing 500gm) of power-gel and one detonator. They arrested six alleged JMB men in the process.