'JMB den' at Tongi busted
The Rapid Action Battalion yesterday claimed to have busted a den of banned militant outfit Jamaat'ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in Tongi of Gazipur and arrested four of its members, including a top leader.
The arrestees rented a flat in a six-storey building in Tongi's Cherag Ali area early this month and had been using it as a training and meeting location, said Rab officials.
A team of Rab, acting on a tip-off, raided the building around 4:00am and rounded up Mahmudul Hasan alias Tanvir, 27, Ashikul Akbar alias Abesh, 22, Najmus Shakib, 19, and Shariatullah Shuvo, 19.
Among them, Mahmudul is a top JMB leader in the southern region of the country. He is a bomb-making expert and also a skilled trainer. He had been providing training for new JMB recruits, claimed officials.
The arrestees were planning to carry out subversive activities in and around Tongi, they added.
The raid came after the joint forces had conducted two drives on Sunday and Monday in the northern region of Bogra and Gaibandha which ended without any arrest and recovery of some sharp weapons and jihadi books.
The drives were launched based on “specific information” from Shafiul Islam, a suspect held over the Sholakia attack on the Eid day, said law enforcers.
During the raid yesterday, the Rab men seized seven crude bombs, a pistol, over 100 bullets, two axes, six sharp weapons, jihadi books and bomb-making materials in the Tongi flat.
Among the seized items were plastic explosives and detonators, Rab Media Wing Director Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan told a press conference at the building.
He said after being recruited in JMB in 2004, Mahmudul gradually gained expertise in making bombs.
“We learnt that Mahmudul provided training for killers who took part in some recent targeted murders.”
The killers of Assistant Sub-Inspector Ibrahim Mollah, who was hacked to death at a police checkpoint in the capital's Gabtoli on October 22 last year, and the attackers of Hussaini Dalan bomb blast in Old Dhaka on October 24 were trained up by Mahmudul, the official added.
As part of militant training, young recruits are given training in physical activities, operating firearms, self-defence tactics and gathering information, Khan told newsmen.
Of the arrestees, Mahmudul was a student at Jessore University of Science and Technology, Ashikul at Rangpur Prime Medical College and Shariatullah at Jessore MM College. Shakib completed his Alim studies from a Gazipur madrasa and was waiting for enrolment in a university, according to Rab.
TWO ARRESTED IN KUSHTIA
The Rab in Kushtia arrested two men and recovered firearms from their possession in Daulatpur upazila early yesterday, reports our correspondent.
The two are Abu Daud Hasan Pappu, 22, a Qawmi madrasa student, and Firoz Pramanik, 40, an alleged activist of outlawed Biplobi Communist Party.
Speaking at a press conference in Kushtia, Shahabuddin Khan, commanding officer of Rab-12, said a Rab team raided Pappu's house at Kazipur village of the upazila around 3:30am and arrested him.
The law enforcers seized a pistol, a revolver and 22 bullets from him.
The crime-busters picked up Pramanik from his house at the same village in the morning and recovered a rifle from there.
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