5 'JMB leaders' held
The Rapid Action Battalion yesterday claimed to have arrested five leaders of a JMB faction it called “Sarwar-Tamim group”.
The five, arrested in the capital's Uttara and Adabor areas on Wednesday night, include a trainer, an explosives expert and a finance coordinator, according to Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of Rab's legal and media wing.
Interestingly, this is the first time Rab came up with statements about “Sarwar-Tamim group”.
Earlier, both police and Rab told the media about “Neo JMB”, a JMB offshoot inspired by ideologies of Islamic State (IS).
Asked why it is being called “Sarwar-Tamim group” instead of “Neo-JMB”, Mufti Mahmud told this newspaper yesterday, “Because the group was led by Sarwar and Tamim.”
Rab earlier said Sarwar, who jumped to death during a raid by the elite force members in Ashulia on October 8, was the chief of “Neo JMB”.
Police, however, said he was a third-grade leader of the outfit.
“We do not believe that Sarwar was the chief of Neo JMB,” a senior DMP official, wishing anonymity, told The Daily Star recently.
Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, killed in a police raid in Narayanganj on August 27, was a key “Neo JMB” leader who masterminded the Gulshan café siege and Sholakia attack, DMP says.
During a briefing at the Rab media centre in Karwan Bazar, Mufti Mahmud said the five were trying to reorganise the operatives who went into hiding following the deaths of top leaders.
Of the arrestees, Maulana Abdul Hakim Faridi alias Sufian, 40, and Razibul Islam alias Razib, 29, were captured in Uttara.
Gazi Kamrus Salam Sohan alias Abdullah, 27, Sohel Rana alias Khadem alias Muazzin, 23, and Abu Saleh alias Liton alias Huraira, 42, were held in the city's Adabor.
Sohan, a former student of Mirzapur Cadet College, completed BSc in electrical and electronics engineering at Islamic University of Technology in Gazipur.
Razibul is a former student of economics department at Dhaka College.
All, except for Sohel, were leaders of Ansarullah Bangla Team before joining “Sarwar-Tamim group”, according to Rab.
The elite force recovered a pistol, 20 bullets, 10 crude bombs and bomb-making materials from their possession.
Rab says the JMB faction got weakened as its top leaders were killed and many operatives went into hiding after the July 1 Gulshan café siege that left 20 hostages, including 17 foreigners, dead.
The Rab at a briefing on October 21 claimed that documents found in Sarwar's den and subsequent probe suggested that “Neo JMB” still had 21 of its members at large.
Replying to a query, Mufti said the five arrested on Wednesday were possibly not among the 21.
Shaykh Abdur Rahman established Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in April 1998.
JMB operatives, who became inactive after Maulana Saidur Rahman took over as its chief following Abdur Rahman's execution in 2007, formed a group that law enforcers started calling “Neo JMB”.
The offshoot is skilled in modern technology and equipped with sophisticated firearms, investigators say.
PROFILE OF THE FIVE
An official of an electric supply company, Sohan joined militancy in 2011, motivated by his university friend Mostafizur Rahman alias Sifat, an administrator of jihadi webpage At-tamkin.
Sifat was arrested by Rab on August 6 this year.
Sohan was also inspired to join terror activities by the sermon of Ansarullah's Bangla Team's spiritual leader Jasimuddin Rahmani, now detained and sentenced to five years in jail in blogger Rajib murder case.
Sifat first took Sohan to Sarwar.
Sohan received 11-day training on militancy in northern region. He also took training on use of small arms and bomb-making in Chittagong.
“He also used to maintain communications with the militants who already went into hiding,” Mufti said, adding Sohan also used to collect funds.
Rab claimed that they came to know about nine persons, believed to be operatives or sympathisers, who donated Tk 28 lakh to him.
Maulana Hakim was a spiritual leader of the “Sarwar-Tamim group”. He got involved in militant activities being inspired by Jasimuddin Rahmani.
A good orator and trainer, Hakim, was once made the chief of Ansarullah following the arrest of Rahmani. He joined this JMB faction through Sarwar.
Hakim used to collect arms and ammunition from a businessman in Chittagong, Habibur Rahman Sheikh alias Tawhid.
Sohel stepped in the path of militancy in 2013 and was the most trusted informer of Sarwar.
Staying in Jhenidah as a Muazzin of a local mosque, he used to maintain a safe house in the district where Tamim and Sarwar held meetings before any subversive activities.
He used to help militants by providing them with security and adequate information.
Besides, he also monitored the “activities of a police station that the militant group wanted to attack to loot its arsenal”. He also circulated the message from Sarwar to other operatives.
His brother Masudur Rahman told our Jhenidah correspondent that Sohel went missing on June 3. The family filed a GD with Jhenidah Sadar Police Station the next day.
They also claimed that he has no links to militancy and he studied up to class VIII.
Saleh, a black belt holder in karate, has been engaged in militancy since 2002. He has worked with Rahmani.
Once an Ansarullah operative, Saleh was introduced to Sarwar by Hakim. He was a physical trainer in the group and donated a good amount of money to its fund.
Razib, who joined militancy in 2007 and took training in Sylhet, became an arms trainer in the outfit. A close aide to Rahmani between 2007 and 2009, he worked as a sales representative of a cement company.
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