Another abettor arrested
The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested one more person in Gazipur for involvement in the sensational escape of three convicted JMB militants being transported in a prison van to Mymensingh in February.
Khorshed Alam, 30, was arrested around 4:10am yesterday during a raid on a makeshift house at Konabari, said Mustaque Sarkar, operation officer of Rab-1.
He was in one of the microbuses used to ambush the prison van and take away the members of the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh. Khorshed was there as a backup in case those who made the attack failed, the Rab official added.
The arrestee, a resident of Satarkul in the capital's Badda, was on the run for a while. He worked at a grocery store and as a land broker on the side, Mustaque said.
The law enforcers, however, are yet to ascertain whether or not he is a member of the JMB, he said.
A large group of miscreants in two microbuses and a truck blocked the path of the prison van carrying the three convicts -- two of them on death row -- in Trishal upazila of Mymensingh on February 23. They then opened fire on the policemen, who were guarding the convicts, killing a constable, and snatched away the JMB activists.
One of the three, Rakib Hasan alias Hafiz Mahmud, was recaptured six hours after the ambush. He was killed the following day in what was given out as “crossfire”. The others are still at large.
On Wednesday, Rab produced before the media eight people allegedly with connections to the incident.
At least four of them had previously been reported missing by their families before they were brought before the media at a Rab press briefing in Uttara.
Three of them were picked up from their homes in the middle of the night, while another was detained on his way back home, their family members said. None of the families were informed about the arrests.
One of the arrestees, Kamal Hossain alias Sabuj, claimed that Ataur Rahman Kamal, a Jubo League leader of Bhaluka upazila, had arranged safe passage for death row JMB leader Rakib Hasan Russell after he had been taken away along with other key leaders of the banned militant outfit.
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