2 'militants' held in city

Detectives yesterday claimed to have arrested the commander and a financer of the newly formed militant outfit “Bangladesh Jihadi Group” in the capital's Mohammadpur.

Asaduzzaman alias Milon alias Milu and Firoz Mohammad Tomal were picked up from a house in Mohammadi Housing area around 5:00pm on Wednesday. Detectives also seized three foreign-made pistols, 15 bullets, one kilogram of explosives and two laptops from them.

Also known as Abdullah alias Anik, Asad formed Bangladesh Jihadi Group as per instructions from Maulana Abdur Rauf, a top leader of the banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji), said Monirul Islam, spokesperson of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Sources at Detective Branch of police said they took the arrestees on five-day remand through a Dhaka court yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference at the DMP media centre, Monirul said Asad is the commander of Bangladesh Jihadi Group. He got acquainted with Rauf when he was working as a lawyer's assistant.

He dealt with a case of Maulana Rauf, a charge-sheeted accused in the August 21 grenade attack case. The Huji leader is now behind bars.

Asad came from a poor family and cherished the ideal of communism, said Monirul, also a DMP joint commissioner.

After taking inspiration from Maulana Rauf, he thought that jihad could be the way to achieve his dream of establishing equity in society, the DMP official quoted Asad as saying during primary interrogation.

The other arrestee, Firoz Mohammad Tomal, is a private university graduate and son of a government service holder. Asad recruited Tomal for Bangladesh Jihadi Group.

Tomal told detectives that his father owned 17 houses and apartments in the capital. He was a top financer and a supplier of firearms for the militant group. The three seized pistols were supplied by him.

As it was not possible for an individual to continue financing the group, its members planned to rob commercial banks, claimed Monirul.

Detectives learnt about Bangladesh Jihadi Group in October last year following the arrest of four Huji men in the capital and Fatullah of Narayanganj.

Banned militant outfits Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Hizbullah, Allahar Dal, Ansarullah Bangla Team and Hizb-ut-Tahrir are members of the umbrella organisation Bangladesh Jihadi Group. They were trying to get stronger with plans to launch attacks in major cities and on eminent personalities, claimed DB officials.

During interrogation, Asad and Tomal said they sought help from some retired and sacked defence officials to train up some group members. They would send the trained members to Syria and Afghanistan to join in jihad.

Detectives on June 7 arrested nine suspected members of Huji and Ansarullah Bangla Team from the capital's Banashree and Sutrapur. Six of them were preparing to rob a bank.

On June 18, they arrested a Dhaka University laboratory assistant and three chemical traders for allegedly supplying bomb-making chemicals to militants.

Asad and Tomal were detained based on information gleaned from suspected militants arrested earlier.