Busted Ctg den was 'Neo JMB' training centre

The Chittagong den busted on Wednesday was a “Neo JMB” training centre often visited by a man who kept his face covered and gave training to militants in bomb-making, investigators said yesterday.

The two suspected militants, arrested over Tuesday's attack on a police checkpoint in Comilla, told interrogators that the man whom they used to address as “Boro Bhai (big brother)” often spoke in Arabic.

Gleaning information from the two, law enforcers seized 29 grenades and explosive materials from the Mirsharai den.

Finding stay in Dhaka unsafe, “Neo JMB” operatives were relocating to Chittagong to set up dens and training centres.

The “Neo JMB” is an offshoot of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

“The militant outfit has a plan for carrying out a massive attack and one of their operatives already left for Dhaka to carry out the attack,” an investigator, who quizzed the arrestees, said.

The two, however, didn't give information about the target, the official added, seeking anonymity.

One of the arrestees who initially identified himself as Jasim was in fact Ahmed Azwad Imtiaz Talukder alias Omi who had been missing since February 29 last year, said an official of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

According to a Rab's list of missing people published on July 20 last year, Omi is the son of an army official. He was number 178 on the list of 262 missing people.

Despite repeated attempts, this correspondent could not reach his father over the phone.

Omi admitted to interrogators that he took Bayah (an oath of allegiance to a leader) from one Abu Ibrahim through Twitter. 

“Initially he tried to mislead us about his identity. But as we verified his picture with our database of missing people, he admitted his real identity,” the CTTC unit official told The Daily Star.

An A-level student at a reputed English medium school in the capital, Omi had left home out of frustration over separation of his parents. He used to translate Bengali write-ups of militants into English, the official said quoting Omi.

Although he is only 19, he worked at the outfit's policy level and had close links with top “Neo JMB” leaders.

He had been in touch with “Neo JMB” chief coordinator Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury. He visited Bangladeshi-Canadian Tamim's Narayanganj den where the latter was killed during a drive by law enforcers on August 26 last year.

He also maintained close links with “Neo JMB” military commander Maj (retd) Jahid, who was also killed in an operation in the capital's Rupnagar last year.

Omi told interrogators that the “Neo JMB” would carry out fresh attacks in an organised way.

The other arrestee, Mahmud Hasan, used to make grenades.

TRICK TO RENT HOUSE

According to investigators, Mahmud hired a couple at Tk 6,000 for two days to rent two units in Chittagong's Mirsharai upazila.

As people are reluctant to rent out flats to youths, they hired the couple. Mahmud introduced them as his sister and brother-in-law to the landlord and said they would stay at one of the two adjacent units.

As per the agreement, the couple later left the area, added the investigators.

The CTTC official said they came to know about Mahmud during the raid at the “Neo JMB” den in the city's Ashkona on December 24 last year. The arrested wife of Mainul Islam Musa, a key leader of the militant outfit, told law enforcers that a youth named Mahmud used to visit the den with Musa.

Mahmud hailed from Chittagong. However, an official at the police headquarters said the arrestee was a Rohingya who later managed Bangladeshi citizenship.

Meanwhile, Redwanul Huq, owner of the Mirsharai house, was shown arrested in the case filed under the anti-terrorism act yesterday, hours after he was detained for questioning, reports our staff correspondent in Chittagong.

He was later sent to jail through a Chittagong court.