Bangla Bhai’s close aide held in Rajshahi
Law enforcers today arrested a close associate of executed JMB leader Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai from Bagmara upazila of Rajshahi.
Mahtab Khamaru Mahtab, 50, was a regional commander and second-in-command of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), reports our Rajshahi correspondent.
Mahtab was also one of the masterminds of a banned group Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) operations. He claimed himself as a member of Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, according to police.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team arrested him from Hamirkutsa Polythene market area around 11:00am as he was wanted in a case filed with Bagmara Police Station under the Anti-Terrorism Act in June, said Selim Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of the police station.
He was accused in two other cases filed in 2004 over torture and extortion, which are under trial now, he added.
Police said that he was arrested for the fourth time. Earlier he was arrested on November 27, 2005, March 9, 2007 and July 23, 2012.
According to a US embassy Cable released by Wikileaks, Mahtab was released in 2005 since the then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s elder son Tarique Rahman had asked the then state minister for home for releasing him.
In a few months since April 1, 2004, JMJB had killed at least 22 persons.
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