Letter from prison
An alleged letter from a death row Huji leader in Kashimpur jail shows that militants are changing tactics, using code languages and changing names to plan and carry out subversive acts and avoid arrest.
The letter from Maulana Moin Uddin alias Abu Jandal to Huji men advises them to use the word “Book Purchase” instead of “ambush” while planning attacks like last year's ambush on a prison van in Mymensingh to free fellow militants.
The Daily Star has obtained a photocopy of the letter, seized by Rab on Thursday from one of the 12 arrested Huji men. The elite force captured them from different areas in the capital on Wednesday and Thursday.
"We want to be out of prison. I'm thinking of engaging you and Habib in this operation. If you agree, I will let you know what to do through a letter. To know your opinion on this I'll just ask if you want to 'purchase new books',” reads a part of the letter, written in Bangla.
This newspaper is not in a position to verify the authenticity of the letter.
According to Rab officials, Abu Jandal wrote the letter to Maulana Mainul Islam Mahim, who is allegedly organising inactive Huji operatives across the county and trying to coordinate with al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS).
How and exactly when the letter was written and delivered is unclear, but it directs Huji members to communicate “important matters” with him via letters to be sent through “lawyers or drivers just as I did.”
The letter begins with a caution to militants not to speak about issues related to Jihad over the phone. “I've learnt from reliable sources that intelligence agencies tap my mobile conversations.”
Under the law, prison inmates cannot use mobile phones.
If the letter is authentic and Abu Jandal's claim of using a mobile phone in prison is true, then it also exposes a serious security lax in Kashimpur prison.
This correspondent tried to contact the Kashimpur jail authorities over the phone last night, but no one picked up the phone.
Contacted, Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin, inspector general of prisons, said he did not know if any inmate was using phones there. “I will look into it.”
At a press briefing on Thursday at the Rab headquarters, Rab officials said the banned militant outfit was planning to free its leaders, including Moin, by attacking and cutting the grills of Jail. Having realised that it would be risky, it then made plans to ambush prison vans.
In the letter, Moin asked Mainul to change names of some key figures. He even suggested a few changes -- Salman for Mufti Zafar, Toha for Habib, Al Mamun for Altaf and Fedaul Islam for Lelin.
Mufti Zafar, Altaf and Habib are among the 12 arrestees. (They were all placed on three day's police remand yesterday.)
The letter was not addressed to anyone in particular and there was no date on it. At the bottom, there was only a signature, no name.
Rab believes Moin put the letter in a bag and had it delivered to his fellow men through his counsels when he was produced before a court.
Communications from jail is nothing new. There are numerous allegations that inmates with the help of police and jail authorities communicate through phones or letters with their cohorts and family members.
Last year's ambush in Mymensingh, for instance, was planned by top inmate JMB leaders, police said.
In this February 23 attack, JMB operatives snatched three condemned JMB leaders from a police van while it was on its way to a court.
One policeman was killed in the ambush.
Of the three JMB leaders, one was later arrested but the two others remain at large.
At least 54 militants are now on death row. But they cannot be executed as they are under trial in other cases.
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